4 days 10x, x 402 doers PayAI surpasses PING in market capitalization

Author: KarenZ, Foresight News

In the rapidly changing competition of the cryptocurrency market, a notable reversal has just occurred within the x 402 ecosystem.

Last week, PING, regarded as the “star token” of the x 402 protocol, had its market capitalization advantage surpassed by the x 402 protocol payment infrastructure. According to the latest data, PayAI’s market capitalization broke through $50 million this morning, rising more than tenfold in four days. Meanwhile, PING experienced a pullback after an initial big pump, with a current market cap of $34 million.

This is not just a competition between two projects but a critical moment for the entire x 402 ecosystem and even the decentralized payment infrastructure sector, shifting from hype to practicality.

PING’s Highlight and Dilemma

As the first token issued on Base via the x 402 protocol, PING experienced a “highlight moment” last week, soaring over 20 times within just two days from October 23 to 24, with its market cap reaching above $80 million.

This exponential growth attracted numerous industry investors and brought unprecedented market attention to the x 402 protocol itself, successfully opening a traffic gateway for this emerging sector.

However, the heat without value support is ultimately unsustainable. Essentially, PING is a pure Memecoin, lacking practical utility or real use cases, and some community users even compare it to “inscription” assets — its rise driven more by market speculation and sentiment than by value creation, representing a typical traffic dividend frenzy rather than long-term growth based on value.

PayAI Breakthrough: The “Pragmatists” of x 402 Infrastructure

In stark contrast to PING’s speculative nature, PayAI, as a x 402 Facilitator, has broken through with a clear infrastructure positioning and practical value, becoming a core target for ecosystem value shift.

What is a x 402 Facilitator? x 402 Facilitators are service providers supporting the processing of x 402 payments on Solana and EVM networks, offering unified endpoint access to verify and settle on-chain payments under the x 402 protocol through HTTP resource links.

These Facilitators form the core infrastructure layer of the x 402 payment ecosystem, responsible for verifying and settling on-chain payments of HTTP resources using the x 402 protocol:

• Supporting different blockchain networks (such as Solana, Base, etc.).
• Facilitators handle network fees and verification/settlement.
• No API keys required. Plug-and-play.
• Designed for human and agent use cases, enabling payment settlement within one second after blockchain confirmation, from pay-per-use APIs to AI agents.

From the x 402 payment process perspective, the client calls protected resources and constructs a payment payload; the resource server publishes payment requirements, verifies/settles payments, and fulfills requests; the Facilitator server verifies the payment payload and executes settlement via standard endpoints; finally, the blockchain network executes and confirms the payment.

![] ( https://img-cdn.gateio.im/social/moments-a 2 d 72 c 0 d 21 f 93198 b 61803 a 3 fe 9 ec 24 e )

Eating into Coinbase’s Market Share, Becoming the Second Largest Facilitator in the x 402 Ecosystem

This role makes Facilitators the most valuable participants within the x 402 ecosystem. Among these, PayAI is gradually eroding Coinbase’s dominance. According to x 402 scan data, PayAI has processed over 14% of x 402 transaction volume, making it the second-largest Facilitator after Coinbase. Meanwhile, Coinbase’s market share has declined from an early absolute dominance to about 77%.

![] ( https://img-cdn.gateio.im/social/moments- 2 abca 88 d 7 b 762675 ebce 2170 e 34 b 6741)

Chart source: x 402 scan

From the perspective of ecosystem participants, the number of PayAI sellers has exceeded 82% of Coinbase’s, and the gap continues to narrow.

In the x 402 ecosystem, sellers are those providing API or content monetization services. The x 402 protocol offers a “frictionless small transaction monetization” solution — enabling direct revenue from customers via programmable payments without mandatory subscriptions or advertising.

The scale of sellers directly influences the market potential of the x 402 ecosystem: more high-quality sellers mean richer options for buyers, attracting more traffic and creating a positive cycle of “more sellers → more buyers → ecosystem prosperity.” PayAI’s rapid penetration at the seller end is laying a solid foundation for its ecosystem position.

PayAI Token Economics and Utility

Regarding PayAI’s token economics, the total supply is 1 billion tokens, all of which are in circulation at launch.

The PayAI team will purchase 20% of the tokens at issuance and transfer them to the project treasury, which will be used for operations, marketing, and future token releases such as community rewards and partnerships. Specifically, half of the treasury tokens will provide liquidity to generate fees, while the other half will vest linearly over one year.

What are the utilities of the PAYAI token? According to official documentation, the intended uses include:

• Reducing platform fees when executing AI agent service contracts.
• Increasing visibility of buyer or seller agent listings.
• Participating in future platform governance (e.g., voting on feature proposals, agent ratings).
• Paying arbitration fees in dispute resolution (to be launched in the future).

Deep Reflection

The shifting momentum between PING and PayAI actually reflects an important issue: the x 402 ecosystem is moving from concept to reality, from hype to practicality.

The first issued token, PING, gained a “premium” due to market psychology. But as the market cools, investors are beginning to ask: what exactly am I investing in? If PING is merely an inscription-style minting game, then its value foundation is very weak.

In contrast, PayAI, as a x 402 Facilitator providing payment infrastructure, anchors on two core values: “transaction flow” and “ecosystem necessity.” Its market share and application scenarios demonstrate the project’s fundamental value, naturally earning ongoing capital recognition.

In this process, we see the further maturity of the x 402 sector — market participants are starting to judge projects based on actual transaction flow and fundamental value rather than blind hype. This is undoubtedly a positive signal for the entire x 402 ecosystem and open payment ecosystems.