The Cardano Foundation has joined the x402 Foundation, which is pursuing an artificial intelligence (AI)-based internet payment standard.

On July 15 local time, blockchain outlet The Crypto Basic reported that the Cardano Foundation will take part in governance discussions on a next-generation, internet-based digital payment standard.

With the move, the Cardano ecosystem will join Ripple, the Solana Foundation, Coinbase, American Express, Google, Amazon Web Services (AWS), Stripe, Shopify and Visa at the same table for talks on the standard. The x402 Foundation is an organization launched by the Linux Foundation and is responsible for a neutral, community-led operating structure that is not skewed toward any particular company.

The core is the x402 protocol. The specification is a technology to which Coinbase first contributed, and it focuses on turning the old HTTP 402 "Payment Required" status code into the internet's base payment layer. Rather than keeping payment as a separate process outside web services, it envisions AI agents, application programming interfaces and various applications exchanging value in the HTTP environment the way they exchange data.

Jim Zemlin (짐 젬린), CEO of the Linux Foundation, said AI agents and automated systems are becoming important participants in the global economy, but there is still a lack of a safe and standardised way to conduct transactions online. He explained that the x402 Foundation's goal is to establish an open payment standard to support next-generation internet commerce while maintaining interoperability.

The Cardano Foundation's participation does not mean an immediate technical integration between Cardano and x402. Still, as it will be able to take part in discussions on protocol development as an associate member, Cardano's exposure is expected to grow among technology companies, financial institutions, cloud providers and AI application developers.

The market and community view the move as part of Cardano's steps to respond to AI payments. Supporters expect the foundation's participation could broaden Cardano's standing as AI-led payments and autonomous financial applications spread, and some in the community believe ADA could become a basis for supporting large-scale agent-based payments as payment standards develop.

The trend also ties in with experiments within the Cardano ecosystem. Masumi Network, a Cardano-based project, is reviewing ways to use x402 to apply automatic payments, escrow, refunds and reputation systems to AI-based applications. The Cardano Foundation's move is significant not for a direct product launch, but because it puts Cardano inside the discussions if a structure in which AI systems pay on their own over the internet becomes standardised.