Coinbase is partnering with Amazon Web Services (AWS) to help publishers collect content usage fees from AI agents through the x402 agent payment protocol.

The Block reported on June 16 that the collaboration targets publishers using AWS CloudFront and its web application firewall. AWS said CloudFront and the web application firewall handle about one quarter of all internet traffic.

Publishers can enable the feature within existing AWS settings without separate accounts, invoices or API keys.

When an AI agent requests content, a server sends a payment request signal containing the price. The agent pays in USDC on the Base network, and content is delivered immediately once a Coinbase x402 facilitator verifies the payment on the blockchain.

The service supports per-transaction charging, batch settlement for high-frequency micropayments, subscription models, and pricing plans applied to usage-based tasks such as inference or high-compute API calls.

Nisht Sani (니쉬트 사니), head of AWS Edge Services, said content owners and publishers want to make use of users and agents without blocking them. He said the integration lets them verify an agent’s identity, intent and payment authority before providing content.

Coinbase developed x402 in-house and then transferred governance to the x402 Foundation under the Linux Foundation. AWS joined as a founding member of x402 along with about 20 companies in cloud infrastructure, AI and financial services.