Agentic payments, settled across 35 chains
Agentic payments are payments AI agents make on their own, over open protocols like x402 and the Machine Payments Protocol (MPP). NEAR Intents settles them across 35 chains. The agent pays over x402 or MPP, and the seller is paid in the asset and chain it chooses.
Settlement on a live network
Why do agentic payments need cross-chain settlement?
x402 and MPP standardize how an agent pays for a resource over HTTP. Neither decides where the money lands. A buyer agent may hold USDC on Base, while the seller wants USDT on Tron, or USDC on NEAR.
Today, sellers must close that gap by using a wallet per chain, manually bridging and swapping, and matching payments by hand.
With NEAR Intents, the seller sets one config field, with payouts in their chosen asset, and one deposit address per payment.
One payment request. Any payout chain.
NEAR Intents settles x402 and MPP payments in the asset and on the chain each seller chooses.
1. The agent pays over x402 or MPP
The buyer agent requests a paid resource and receives a payment request. On MPP, it pays with any supported asset on any supported chain. On x402, it pays in USDC the way it does today, and the facilitator confirms payment with no added wait.
2. NEAR Intents routes the payout
Each payment goes to a single-use 1Click Swap API deposit address, minted per quote. On MPP, NEAR Intents is a built-in payment method. On x402, the address sits in the payment request's payTo field, so the protocol is untouched. NEAR Intents converts the funds into the seller's chosen asset and delivers them on the seller's chosen chain, after the buyer has already been served.
3. The seller receives the asset it chose
Payouts land in the token, chain, and address the seller configured, such as USDC on NEAR or USDT on Tron. Because each deposit address belongs to one quote, the seller confirms every payment onchain against the request that generated it.
Which agent payment protocols does NEAR support?
NEAR Intents runs underneath the open standards agents already use, so sellers get cross-chain settlement without switching protocols.
Machine Payments Protocol (MPP)
The NEAR Intents payment scheme is merged into MPP, the agent payment protocol from Stripe and Tempo, as a supported payment method. Agents on MPP pay with any supported asset on any supported chain, and merchants receive payment on their chain of choice across 35 chains. SDK and docs are public at mpp.dev.
x402
NEAR Foundation is a member of the x402 Foundation. The Agent Payments Skill funds x402 payments in USDC on multiple supported networks, from assets on 35 chains, and sellers can route x402 payouts through NEAR Intents with no protocol changes. A native NEAR Intents scheme for x402 is in review upstream and will ship with an SDK.
Confidential settlement
Sellers can receive payouts into a near.com account, where balances and activity are confidential by default. It is one parameter on the 1Click Swap API, the same one behind Confidential Intents. This option sits outside the x402 specification until the spec supports confidential transactions.
Who uses NEAR for agentic payments?
Monetization gateways and paywalls: Give every seller on your platform multi-chain payouts. Payout chain, token, and address become one more field beside the price, and existing x402 clients keep working unchanged.
1Click Swap API integrators: Agent payment settlement uses the API you already run, with the same quotes and the same status tracking.
Agent builders: Fund x402 and MPP payments from assets on 35 chains. The agent pays with what it holds, in the form the payment request asks for.
“Open standards are required for an open agent economy.”
— Illia Polosukhin, Co-Founder, NEAR
FAQ
What are agentic payments?
Agentic payments are payments that AI agents initiate and complete on their own, typically for data, APIs, compute, or content. Open protocols such as x402 and the Machine Payments Protocol (MPP) define how an agent requests and makes the payment. NEAR Intents adds cross-chain settlement, so the seller can be paid in any supported asset.
What is x402?
x402 is an open payment protocol that uses the HTTP 402 Payment Required status code to let clients, including AI agents, pay for resources over HTTP, typically in stablecoins. It is stewarded by the x402 Foundation at the Linux Foundation. NEAR Foundation is a member.
What is the Machine Payments Protocol (MPP)?
The Machine Payments Protocol (MPP), co-authored by Stripe and Tempo, is an open protocol for machine payments built on the HTTP 402 Payment Required status code. It is backwards-compatible with x402. NEAR Intents is a supported MPP payment method, so agents on MPP can pay with any supported asset and merchants receive payment on their chain of choice, across 35 chains. The SDK and docs are at mpp.dev/payment-methods/nearintents.
Does NEAR support x402?
Yes. The Agent Payments Skill funds x402 payments from assets on 35 chains, and sellers can route x402 payouts through NEAR Intents by setting a 1Click Swap API deposit address as the payment destination. A native NEAR Intents scheme for x402 is in review in the x402 repository.
Can a seller be paid in a different token or chain than the agent pays with?
Yes. On x402 the agent pays in USDC, and on MPP it can pay with any supported asset. NEAR Intents then delivers the payout in the token and chain the seller configures, across 35 chains and 125+ assets. The buyer's wallet, client, and payment flow do not change.
Which networks can agents pay from?
Agents paying over x402 can pay in USDC on Base, Polygon, or Arbitrum. Support for more buyer networks is in progress.
Do agents need a NEAR wallet or the NEAR token?
No. Buyer agents keep paying with their existing x402 or MPP client and wallet. NEAR Intents works on the settlement side, between the payment and the seller.
How long does settlement take?
The agent is served as soon as its payment is confirmed, as with any x402 payment. The cross-chain payout to the seller runs afterward and typically completes in about a minute.
How does a merchant confirm an agent's payment?
Each payment goes to a single-use deposit address minted for that quote. The merchant confirms each payment onchain against the request that generated it, with no shared address to reconcile.
Is there a minimum payment amount?
Yes. Every payment route has a minimum. Agents can pay in any supported asset from any supported chain, but each route (origin chain and asset to the seller's settlement asset) has its own floor. That floor is the minimum deposit solvers will accept for the 1Click quote. Floors vary by origin. Some routes clear sub-dollar payments, and others require much larger amounts.
Agentic payments tend to be small and frequent. Before you price data, API calls, or compute, check that the floor on your buyers' likely routes sits below your price.
Can payouts be confidential?
Yes. Sellers can settle into a near.com account, which is confidential by default, so balances and activity are visible only to the account holder. It uses the same 1Click Swap API parameter as Confidential Intents. Confidential settlement is not yet part of the x402 specification.
How do refunds work?
It depends on where in the flow the payment stopped.
If settlement didn’t finish (e.g., swap couldn’t complete or a deposit is short of the quoted amount): on the NEAR Intents path, funds are returned automatically by 1Click on the chain the buyer paid on; the seller doesn’t manually issue that refund.
If payment already completed:
Over x402. Standard x402 payments are final. To refund, the seller sends a new transfer back to the buyer. Batch-settlement payments on EVM support cooperative refunds from escrow. More on x402 NEAR Intents refunds
Over MPP. One-time charges work like x402: the seller refunds by sending funds back to the buyer's address. In MPP sessions, any funds the seller doesn't claim return to the buyer automatically when the session closes. More on MPP NEAR Intents charge
How do I start?
Integrators start with the 1Click Swap API docs. MPP sellers use the NEAR Intents payment method SDK at mpp.dev/payment-methods/nearintents. Gateways and platforms serving many sellers can talk to the team about a shared settlement integration.
