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ZEC $1,233 Ex-Ripple Exec Details XRP Agentic Payment Growth, RLUSD Surge
A former Ripple product lead outlines next steps for XRP as AI agent payments on the XRP Ledger top 13 million.
Key takeaways
- 13M+ AI payments processed. The XRP Ledger has processed over 13 million AI-powered x402 agent payments as of October 10, 2026.
- 168 x402 merchants active. 168 registered x402 merchants are currently participating in the XRP Ledger agentic payment ecosystem.
- 25% of XRPL activity agentic. Agent-driven payments account for roughly 25% of total activity on the XRP Ledger per RippleX's estimate.
What happened
RippleX engineering head J. Ayo Akinyele announced on October 10, 2026 that the XRP Ledger has processed more than 13 million AI-powered x402 agent payments. The milestone was first reported across 166 registered x402 merchants, with later XRPL AI Hub data showing 13.49 million transactions across 168 registered merchants. The x402 protocol lets automated software agents pay for digital services without individual human approval for each transaction.
Former Ripple product lead and t54 co-founder Chandler Fang noted the growth from 1 million transactions in July to over 13 million in October outpaces initial expectations. He stated the next phase will focus on onboarding more real-world merchants and services to accept XRP and RLUSD payments via the x402 facilitator. Ripple launched its AI Starter Kit in June 2026 to support these automated transactions.
Why it matters
The growth of agentic payments signals rising adoption of blockchain for automated digital service transactions, a use case that does not rely on individual user intervention for each payment. Akinyele estimated that agent-driven payments make up roughly 25% of all XRP Ledger activity, and he forecast that 100 million agentic transactions could be reached sooner than many anticipate. Ripple is also building supporting infrastructure including verifiable agent identities, spending safeguards and secure smart wallets for XRP and stablecoins with 3- to 5-second settlement times.
What is still unclear
- The exact time period and calculation methodology behind Akinyele's estimate that agentic payments make up 25% of XRP Ledger activity was not disclosed.
Questions readers ask
What is the x402 protocol on XRP Ledger?
The x402 protocol is a framework that allows automated software agents to pay for digital services like APIs, data and computing via XRP Ledger transactions without individual human approval for each payment. It supports payments in XRP and the RLUSD stablecoin.
What is RLUSD's role in XRP Ledger agentic payments?
RLUSD, Ripple's stablecoin, is one of the primary assets used for automated x402 agent payments on the XRP Ledger alongside XRP. Cumulative settlements via the protocol have included more than 12,000 RLUSD to date.
When did XRP Ledger hit 1 million AI agent payments?
The XRP Ledger crossed its first million AI-powered x402 payments on July 8, 2026, following the launch of the XRPL AI Hub by Ripple-backed t54.ai.
