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Block brings Bitcoin Lightning payments to x402 for AI agents

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Block joined the x402 Foundation and added Bitcoin Lightning support to x402, an open payment standard for AI-agent commerce. The Lightning specification was merged into the x402 repository on Sept. 23, and Block announced its contribution on Sept. 24. The update extends x402 beyond stablecoin-only payments and places Bitcoin Lightning alongside the standard’s existing backers.

Key claims & sources

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Block is backing x402 alongside Google, Microsoft, AWS and Coinbase.
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Block joined the x402 Foundation and contributed a Bitcoin Lightning payment specification for the open standard used by AI agents.
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The x402 repository merged the Lightning specification on Sept. 23.
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Block added Bitcoin Lightning support to x402 after joining its foundation, extending the payment standard beyond stablecoins.

What it means

Users and builders around AI-agent payments see x402 gain a Bitcoin Lightning option alongside the standard’s earlier stablecoin-oriented setup. That matters for anyone trying to use the standard tomorrow morning, because the payment rail now includes an additional Bitcoin-based path inside the same framework.

In practice, x402 now includes a Lightning specification that was merged into its repository on Sept. 23, and Block’s announcement on Sept. 24 put that change into view. What remains the same is that x402 is still an open payment standard for AI agents, with Block joining other named backers rather than replacing them.

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Coverage timeline

Every piece in order, with the time its news medium declares — if it is not believable we use ours and say so — and what it added to what was already known at that point. Arriving first is not the same as adding something.

first
Sep 25 02:00
+54 min
Sep 25 02:55
The Defiant context
Its angle: specification, repository, announced
+3 h 24 m
Sep 25 05:25
crypto.news echo
No new facts: extending, joining, beyond
+19 h 35 m
Sep 25 21:36

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