PayAI surpasses PING! x402 ecological value anchor changes

Written by: KarenZ, Foresight News

In the rapidly changing competition of the cryptocurrency market, a striking reversal has just occurred within the x402 ecosystem.

Last week, PING, which was regarded as the “star token” of the x402 protocol, has been surpassed in market cap by the payment infrastructure of the x402 protocol. According to the latest data, PayAI's market cap broke 50 million dollars this morning, increasing more than 10 times in 4 days. Meanwhile, after experiencing a previous surge, PING has seen some correction, currently with a market cap of 34 million dollars.

This is not just a competition between two projects, but a critical moment for the entire x402 ecosystem and the decentralized payment infrastructure sector to transition from speculation to practicality.

The Highlights and Predicaments of PING

PING, as the first token issued on Base through the x402 protocol, had its “highlight moment” last week, surging more than 20 times in just two days from October 23 to 24, with a market capitalization reaching over 80 million dollars at one point.

This exponential growth has attracted a large number of industry investors and has also brought unprecedented market attention to the x402 protocol itself, successfully opening up a traffic entry for this emerging track.

However, the heat lacking value support is ultimately difficult to sustain. Essentially, PING is a pure Memecoin, with no practical application utility and no real use cases. It is even compared by some community users to “inscription” type assets — its rise logic relies more on market speculative sentiment, representing a typical frenzy of traffic dividends rather than long-term growth based on value creation.

PayAI Breakthrough: x402 Infrastructure's “Pragmatists”

In stark contrast to the speculative attributes of PING, PayAI, as a x402 protocol Facilitator, breaks through with a clear infrastructure positioning and practical value, becoming the core target of the ecological value shift.

What is an x402 Facilitator? x402 Facilitators are service providers that support processing x402 payments on Solana and EVM networks, providing unified endpoint access to implement the verification and settlement of HTTP resource chain payments under the x402 protocol.

These facilitators form the core infrastructure layer of the x402 payment ecosystem, responsible for using the x402 protocol to verify and settle on-chain payments for HTTP resources:

Support for different blockchain networks (such as Solana, Base, etc.).

Facilitators are responsible for bearing network fees and handling verification / settlement.

No API key required. Plug and play.

Designed for human and agent use cases, payments can be settled within one second after blockchain confirmation, from pay-per-use APIs to AI agents.

From the perspective of the x402 payment process logic, the client calls the protected resource and constructs the payment payload; the Resource Server publishes payment requirements, verifies/settles payments, and fulfills requests; the Facilitator server validates the payment payload and executes the settlement through a standard endpoint; finally, the blockchain network executes and confirms the payment.

Cannonballing into Coinbase's market share, becoming the second largest Facilitator in the x402 ecosystem.

This role has made Facilitators the most valuable participants in the x402 ecosystem. Among these x402 Facilitators, PayAI is gradually eating into Coinbase's dominant position. According to x402scan data, PayAI has currently processed over 14% of the x402 transaction volume, becoming the largest Facilitator after Coinbase. In contrast, Coinbase's market share has declined from an early absolute dominance to about 77%.

Chart source: x402scan

From the perspective of ecological participants, the number of sellers of PayAI has reached over 82% of that of Coinbase, and the gap continues to narrow.

In the x402 ecosystem, the seller provides API or content monetization services, and the x402 protocol offers a “frictionless microtransaction monetization” solution - allowing income to be directly obtained from customers through programmable payments without the need for mandatory subscriptions or advertising.

The scale of sellers directly determines the market potential of the x402 ecosystem: more quality sellers mean buyers have richer choices, which will attract more traffic, forming a positive cycle of “more sellers → influx of buyers → prosperous ecosystem.” The rapid penetration of PayAI on the seller side is laying a solid foundation for its ecological position.

PayAI Tokenomics and Utility

In terms of PayAI tokenomics, the total supply of tokens is 1 billion, and all tokens are in circulation at launch.

The PayAI team will purchase 20% of the token supply upon the token release and transfer it to the project treasury. These funds will be used for operations, marketing, and future token releases, such as community rewards, partnerships, etc. Specifically, half of the treasury tokens will provide liquidity to generate fees, while the other half will vest linearly over 1 year.

What is the utility of the PAYAI token? According to the official documentation, the expected uses of PAYAI include:

Reduce platform fees when executing service contracts between AI agents.

Increase the visibility of the buyer or seller agent list.

Participate in the future platform governance (e.g., vote on feature proposals and proxy ratings).

Pay arbitration fees in dispute resolution (to be launched in the future).

Deep thinking

The ebb and flow of PING and PayAI actually reflects an important issue: the x402 ecosystem is transitioning from concept to reality, shifting from speculation to practicality.

The first issued token PING has received a “dividend premium,” which is a common sentiment in the market. However, as the market cools down, investors begin to ponder: what exactly am I investing in? If PING is just an inscription-based minting game, then its value foundation is very weak.

In contrast, PayAI, with the payment infrastructure identity of x402 Facilitator, anchors the two core values of “transaction flow” and “ecological necessity,” proving the fundamental value of the project with actual market share and application scenarios, naturally gaining continuous recognition from capital.

In this process, we have witnessed further maturity in the x402 space—market participants are beginning to determine the status of projects based on actual trading volume and fundamental value, rather than blind speculation. This is undoubtedly a positive signal for the entire x402 ecosystem and the open payment ecosystem.