How Emerging Public Chains Compete for x402 Ecological Dividends: A Review of Early Projects on BSC and Solana

Author: David, Deep Tide TechFlow

Original title: x402 Carnival on BASE, where are the asset opportunities on BSC and Solana?

Now open the on-chain data of x402, and you will see an interesting phenomenon: all are Base blue labels.

In the past 24 hours, tens of thousands of transactions took place on Base. There was no Ethereum mainnet, nor any sign of BSC and Solana.

This is quite normal, after all, x402 is a protocol proposed by Coinbase, so it naturally needs to run on its own Base chain first. Previously, $PING surged dramatically, and various similar imitation trading activities have also emerged. With this trump card, Base's daily active users and attention are both skyrocketing.

However, x402, is it only possible to play on Base?

From a technical perspective, the core of x402 is the HTTP 402 status code combined with on-chain stablecoin payments. In simple terms, any chain that can run smart contracts, has affordable gas fees, and stablecoin liquidity can implement it.

(If you are not familiar with the technology of x402 and the supporting protocol, please refer to: x402 is gradually becoming competitive, and discover new asset opportunities in ERC-8004 in advance.)

The reason x402 only exists on Base is not due to technical limitations, but rather Coinbase's home field advantage. However, technology is open source and protocols can be forked, which also means that other chains still have opportunities.

Currently, there is an interesting situation in the x402 narrative:

There are two chains with core technology standards in hand (Ethereum and Base), holding ERC-8004 and x402 respectively, but lacking hype traffic and liquidity; while the two chains with the most traffic (BNB Chain and Solana) lack relevant technical legitimacy and projects.

In the uneven development mentioned above, absence is sometimes not a bad thing; instead, it provides space for new projects to develop.

We reviewed the current market's x402 projects related to BNB Chain and Solana, helping everyone better identify assets in this narrative.

BNB Chain Ecosystem Project Review

The actions of BNB Chain in the Perp DEX and meme launches have been widely observed, producing assets like $Aster and $Binance Life; now x402 has arrived, and the entire chain ecosystem seems too calm.

However, from infrastructure to applications, some projects are quietly brewing and building.

b402, Payment Protocol Standard (No Tokens Available)

Just look at the on-chain data of x402 now, and you will see that almost all the Facilitators are on Base and Solana.

If you don't know what a Facilitator is, a simple explanation is:

The payment processing center in the x402 ecosystem is responsible for verifying AI's payment requests and handling on-chain settlements. Without it, the Agent's payment requests cannot be transformed into actual on-chain transactions.

What does this mean? If an AI Agent on BSC wants to charge fees, it either has to cross-chain to Base or build its own payment system from scratch.

Among all the infrastructure that may be needed for BSC, the payment layer is the most critical. Without payment, there is no economic activity; without economic activity, the Agent is just a toy.

This is what b402 is doing, the first AI Agent payment standard on the BNB Chain.

In simple terms, b402 brings the capabilities of x402 completely to BSC, but uses a different technological path.

Because BSC tokens (such as USDT) do not support EIP-3009, and 3009 is a standard that allows tokens to support “Gas payment on behalf of others.” With it, users can sign an authorization, and then others (such as service providers) can help pay the Gas fee to complete the transfer.

Why can't BSC's USDT function without this feature?

Imagine that an AI Agent needs to pay to call an API. On Base, it just signs an authorization, and the x402 facilitator will help it pay for Gas. But on BSC, USDT does not have EIP-3009, and the Agent must hold BNB itself to pay for Gas fees.

Thus, B402 achieves the above functionality through a series of mechanisms, allowing users to make payments simply by signing without needing to hold BNB to pay for Gas.

By closely examining the documentation of B402, we can find that it mainly addresses three issues:

1. Allow all BEP-20 tokens on BSC to be used for Agent payments, not just a specific token;
2. Integrate ERC-8004 to complete Agent authentication and payment within the same system;
3. Millisecond-level processing speed, which is crucial for high-frequency agent interaction.

What is even more ambitious is that B402 is not content with just being a protocol. You can understand this by looking at its architecture diagram:

The bottom layer is the protocol (smart contract), the middle layer is the service layer (Facilitator and b402scan), and the top layer is the developer tools (SDK).

Among them, b402scan is particularly noteworthy. It is not just a simple block explorer like x402scan, but an AI service “seller launchpad”, more akin to a crypto version of Alibaba and Shopify.

To put it simply, b402scan aims to solve the problem of how to quickly launch AI services and get them discovered by the market. Suppose you have a weather data API and want to charge AI Agents for its use.

In the traditional model, you need to build your own payment system, handle on-chain transactions, and find ways to make people discover you. But with b402scan, you only need a few steps: upload your API information, set the price, and deploy on-chain.

The remaining payment verification, on-chain settlement, and curation, etc., are all handled by b402.

This is somewhat like the early days of Taobao. Before Taobao, individuals who wanted to open an online store had to handle payment, logistics, and promotion by themselves. Taobao provides a one-stop platform that allows anyone to easily get started.

b402scan is such a presence for AI service providers on the BNB Chain. Buyers who need to purchase services can directly explore the available services on b402scan.

Unibase, AI Memory Layer + x402 Facilitator ($UB)

What Unibase does is actually different from B402. B402 is a payment protocol redesigned for BSC (because BSC tokens do not support EIP-3009), while Unibase directly ports Coinbase's x402 protocol to BSC.

According to the information on its official website x402.unibase.com, Unibase is the “first x402 Facilitator on BSC”, supporting the EIP-3009 standard and providing standard x402 interfaces such as verify and settle.

It did not forcibly require BSC's USDT to support x402, but rather created XUSD, a wrapped stablecoin designed specifically for x402 that supports EIP-3009. Users can wrap USDC into XUSD on a 1:1 basis and exchange it back when finished.

Any x402 application running on Base theoretically only needs to change the Facilitator address and token address (USDC→XUSD) on Unibase, and the code logic does not need to be modified at all, allowing it to run on BSC.

In addition to Facilitator, Unibase has also developed a BitAgent platform that allows developers to quickly issue AI Agents, along with Unibase Memory (memory storage layer), forming a complete ecosystem of “payment + issuance + memory.” It is somewhat similar to a mini version of the Base AI ecosystem copied on BSC.

Pieverse, the Facilitator for solving compliance issues ($PIEVERSE, Pre-TGE activities are ongoing)

For traditional enterprises using AI Agents, the biggest headache is probably not the technology, but financial compliance. Every payment requires an invoice, an audit voucher, and must comply with local tax laws.

The original x402 protocol did not consider these, but Pieverse's x402b did.

The Facilitator of Pieverse will automatically generate “jurisdiction-compliant receipts” at each payment settlement and permanently store them on BNB Greenfield (the decentralized storage layer of BSC).

This means that enterprises can retrieve the complete proof of any AI Agent transaction at any time, meeting audit requirements.

From an investment perspective, if you believe the enterprise-level AI Agent market will explode, Pieverse could be an interesting target. Previously, Pieverse was also a graduate of Binance's MVB Season 9 project incubation, securing $7M in strategic financing led by Animoca Brands.

Currently, Pieverse is also conducting Pre-TGE activities in the Binance wallet. Participating in this event requires spending 15 points, and additionally, various tasks such as following, retweeting, and using must be completed to obtain airdrop opportunities.

AEON, which itself does encrypted payments and integrates x402 (no token available)

AEON is a larger AI payment framework, and x402 is just one of the protocols it integrates.

What AEON is really doing is connecting cryptocurrency with real-world payments. According to their data, AEON has already connected with over 20 million merchants, mainly distributed in emerging markets such as Southeast Asia, Latin America, and Africa.

On October 27th, AEON launched x402 Facilitator on the BNB Chain, enabling AI Agents to use AEON's payment network.

AEON's advantage lies in the fact that it is the winner of the 10th season of BNB Chain MVB, standing out from over 500 projects. More importantly, it has engaged in discussions with Visa and Mastercard, planning to enter the North American and European markets in 2025.

From an investment perspective, AEON is not purely an x402 concept, but rather a composite of “AI + payment + real-world application.”

TermiX, integrated with x402, enables every Agent to charge (no tokens available)

TermiX plays a special role in the x402 ecosystem on BSC: it is a platform for creating Agents, but the key is that these Agents can charge through x402.

In simple terms, TermiX provides a low-code environment that allows you to create AI Agents by dragging and dropping. But more importantly, these Agents come with “payment functionality” built-in: by integrating the x402 protocol, each Agent can charge autonomously.

For example, if you create a “Blockchain Data Analysis Agent”, other users or Agents will automatically trigger an x402 payment when they want to use its services. TermiX's SDK has already encapsulated the x402 payment process, so the creator does not need to understand the technical details of the payment; they only need to set the price.

The tweet on October 26 showcased their demo: tokens can be created through simple conversations, and all on-chain operations involved can be automatically paid for by x402. This means that Agents on TermiX can not only charge fees but also actively pay for other services.

From the perspective of the BSC x402 ecosystem, if B402 and Unibase are the infrastructure, then TermiX is the application layer, which allows more Agents to enter the market, and these Agents are all potential users of x402.

Zara AI, AI Development Factory Platform (No Tokens Available)

Zara AI is an autonomous AI development factory and agency platform that allows users to quickly build, test, deploy, and monetize AI-driven applications and agents in just a few minutes.

From publicly available information, Zara integrates the x402 protocol, allowing AI agents to make instant USDC payments through a single API request.

Agents can autonomously discover services at runtime, negotiate prices, and make payments through x402, deploying dApps with built-in payment features on Solana, Base, and BNB Chain.

Its partner Vistara Labs has also open-sourced b402 (gasless payments on BNB Chain, mentioned earlier), enabling cross-chain proxy trading.

Solana Ecosystem Projects Overview

First of all, there is no need to elaborate on the previously risen PayAI Network. As a core facilitator of the Solana ecosystem x402, it currently acts as a Facilitator, handling verification and settlement.

In addition to memes, some fundamentally stronger projects are being propelled through the official Solana hackathon.

Solana launched the official x402 hackathon on October 28, co-hosted with Trends.fun, with a total prize pool of $50K, covering 5 tracks:

Best trustless proxy, best x402 API integration, best MCP server, best x402 development tools, best x402 proxy applications. The event will last until November 11, and winners will be announced on November 17.

From the themes set by these competitions, we can also see some popular or lacking directions around x402 in the Solana ecosystem:

• Pre-validation, AI verification/reputation assessment: Before making mutual payments, how do I know who this AI is? What is its reputation?
• In the process, intermediary bridge: similar to Payai, when AI pays to the API, the crypto being paid needs an intermediary to transfer the request to the chain.
• The main character in doing things, AI: Develop some real AI applications that can use x402, rather than just pure memes like $PING .

As soon as the announcement of this hackathon came out, the comments section exploded with various projects actively responding from the Solana ecosystem.

Daydreams, a community-driven x402 ecosystem builder ($DREAMS)

On the Facilitator leaderboard of x402, Daydreams is currently ranked third, having processed over 50,000 transactions.

On October 30, Daydreams announced an interesting gameplay: releasing 20 bounty tasks of 1000 dollars each, totaling 20,000 dollars. Each bounty funds the development of a small API service, which are charged through x402. They call it “Microbusinesses that can be built in a day.”

This model is very clever. Instead of developing all services themselves, it's better to let the community build them. Every developer who receives a bounty will create a paid API called x402, which in turn will attract more AI Agents to use and pay for it. Daydreams provides three core tools to support this ecosystem:

Daydreams Framework: A modular Agent building framework that supports TypeScript, allowing for rapid assembly of AI Agents.

Daydreams Router: Allows Agents to access various AI models such as GPT, Claude, Groq, etc., and settle USDC instantly through x402.

LUCID platform (coming soon): Combining x402 and ERC-8004, allowing Agents to have identity, payment capabilities, and operate autonomously.

Daydreams not only supports Solana but also covers Base and Starknet, making it a true multi-chain Facilitator.

Switchboard, supports the x402 oracle ($SWTCH)

Switchboard is a decentralized oracle protocol in the Solana ecosystem, with core products including Surge (real-time price streams with sub-100ms latency), Oracle Quotes (on-chain integration without lock), and verifiable random number services, protecting over $5 billion in assets across more than 50 protocols.

On October 23, Switchboard achieved x402 compatibility through the Corbits SDK, becoming the current “only x402 compatible oracle”.

This integration allows AI agents to pay for data query fees on demand using SPL tokens (such as USDC), with each query costing less than $0.001.

Frego – Web3 AI Security Platform ($FREGO)

Frego's main business is to provide a unified control interface for building, deploying, and managing AI agents in blockchain environments.

Core features include FregOS (Web3 AI Agent Operating System), real-time security guardrails, full observability, and automated compliance auditing.

FregOS has built-in native x402 support, allowing agents to seamlessly handle micropayments (such as paying for cross-chain data or services via SPL tokens on Solana).

Features include trading simulations with risk assessment, execution of strategies to prevent unsafe payments, and one-click API integration for inter-agency commerce.

Frego's guard rail feature ensures that x402 transactions comply with security protocols, preventing unauthorized fund loss and other exploit vulnerabilities.

Foundry, AI-native proxy infrastructure ($FDRY)

Foundry builds specialized AI agents for small teams and AI-native startups, focusing on specific domain tasks rather than general-purpose tools.

The product line includes generating professional video marketing content, programming AI agents, and a feature called Unbrowse that allows AI agents to browse the internet faster, among others.

However, the market capitalization of $FDRY is small, and the price is highly volatile.

The recent catalyst is that Foundry has integrated x402 for autonomous network proxy payments, enabling real-time micro-payments through network layer operations via Unbrowse.

On October 30, it announced its participation in the x402 Solana hackathon, focusing on real-time AI settlement, and has also been included in the x402 ecosystem token List by CoinGecko.

NICO, AI Companion on Solana Chain ($NICO)

Niconico.ai is an AI-driven co-pilot tool specifically designed for the Solana blockchain, aimed at simplifying user interactions with on-chain activities.

Integrating DeepSeek (AI processing), Helius (Solana blockchain data), and Privy (wallet integration) APIs, users can start using it with just an email. Core features include trend analysis (identifying popular Solana tokens), token insights, on-chain execution, price prediction, and an upcoming sniper tool.

Similarly, the current market value of the NICO token is very low and should be approached with caution.

The project team is exploring the integration of the x402 protocol to enable USDC micropayments in the application. On October 28, their tweet confirmed that “$NICO is launching on x402, allowing users to make USDC payments via 402 HTTP requests.”

Opus Genesis, a social-driven autonomous AI agent ($OPUS)

Opus Genesis is a project on Solana focused on autonomous AI agents, integrating the blockchain with social networks to cultivate AI capable of autonomous operation.

Opus has previously integrated x402, and the AI persona can use x402 for inter-agent transactions, data queries, and some small business operations.

Specific applications include pay-per-use API calls ($0.001-$0.01/request) and M2M (machine-to-machine) payments for trend analysis or community governance.

The project won third place in the Coinbase x402 hackathon (“At that time, the project was named x402 OPUS Infinite Marketplace”), and is currently participating in the ongoing Solana x402 hackathon.

Due to space limitations, not all x402 ecosystem projects on Solana are fully listed here.

However, the above projects showcase the diversity of the Solana x402 ecosystem, ranging from oracle infrastructure to AI security, development frameworks, and autonomous agent platforms. We can look forward to the award-winning projects that will emerge after the hackathon concludes.