Securing the X402 Protocol: Why Autonomous Agent Payments Need Spending Controls
· 10 min read
The X402 protocol is revolutionising how AI agents pay for resources on the web. By reviving the HTTP 402 "Payment Required" status code, it enables autonomous agents to purchase API access, data feeds, and computational resources without human intervention. But there's a critical security gap: what stops an agent from draining your wallet in an infinite payment loop?
If you're building with X402, Coinbase's Payments MCP, or Cloudflare's Agent SDK, you need to understand the catastrophic risks of ungoverned agent wallets—and why the industry needs policy enforcement infrastructure that doesn't exist yet.