The Linux Foundation has officially launched the x402 Foundation, a new initiative with a governance structure comprising 40 member companies. Notable founding members include Visa, Mastercard, Ripple, American Express, Stripe, and others. The x402 protocol enables servers to respond with a 402 response and a price, allowing clients to sign a stablecoin transfer, typically USDC, to access data without needing accounts or credit cards. This system is particularly suited for AI agent applications. Coinbase has completed its contribution to the protocol, which was initially incubated by the company before migrating to the Linux Foundation.