WEBVTT 00:00:13.640 --> 00:00:15.980 Hey, everyone. Welcome back to the Read Multiplex 00:00:15.980 --> 00:00:18.339 podcast. If you've been on X lately, you've probably 00:00:18.339 --> 00:00:20.920 seen Brian Romley posting nonstop about this 00:00:20.920 --> 00:00:24.219 new thing called X402 payments and how AI agents 00:00:24.219 --> 00:00:26.519 are out there buying data and content right now. 00:00:26.760 --> 00:00:29.239 Today, we're talking about his brand new article 00:00:29.239 --> 00:00:32.420 on readmultiplex .com that breaks it all down, 00:00:32.560 --> 00:00:35.640 X402 payments, how to get paid for your data 00:00:35.640 --> 00:00:38.780 by selling it to... AI agents, the new agent 00:00:38.780 --> 00:00:41.619 economy. Brian, thanks for joining us. First 00:00:41.619 --> 00:00:44.859 off, give us the big picture overview. What's 00:00:44.859 --> 00:00:47.159 this article really about and why are you so 00:00:47.159 --> 00:00:50.299 fired up about it? Thank you. So cool to hang 00:00:50.299 --> 00:00:52.799 out again and talk about this. Look, I've been 00:00:52.799 --> 00:00:55.439 in electronic payments since the early 1980s, 00:00:55.439 --> 00:00:57.259 one of the first people doing web payments back 00:00:57.259 --> 00:00:59.229 when most people. still thought the internet 00:00:59.229 --> 00:01:02.049 was a fad i've watched micropayments get killed 00:01:02.049 --> 00:01:04.810 over and over by fees and friction this article 00:01:04.810 --> 00:01:06.590 is me connecting the dots between everything 00:01:06.590 --> 00:01:08.829 i know about real money movement and what's happening 00:01:08.829 --> 00:01:11.829 right now with ai agents the core idea is simple 00:01:11.829 --> 00:01:15.129 but massive x402 is the revival of the old http 00:01:15.129 --> 00:01:18.489 402 payment required status code turned into 00:01:18.489 --> 00:01:21.609 a clean open protocol that lets ai agents pay 00:01:21.609 --> 00:01:24.450 humans or sites directly for data and content, 00:01:24.629 --> 00:01:27.109 machine to machine, no accounts, no permissions, 00:01:27.250 --> 00:01:29.250 no stripe middleman. It's already live in production 00:01:29.250 --> 00:01:32.810 with Coinbase, Cloudflare, and the X402 foundation 00:01:32.810 --> 00:01:36.349 behind it. Millions of transactions and tens 00:01:36.349 --> 00:01:38.170 of millions in volume have already flowed through 00:01:38.170 --> 00:01:41.010 it. Right, Brian, that's wild. So instead of 00:01:41.010 --> 00:01:43.950 us humans chasing advertisers or platforms, the 00:01:43.950 --> 00:01:46.129 AI agents are the ones coming to us with money 00:01:46.129 --> 00:01:48.659 to pay for our content. Yes, exactly. And here's 00:01:48.659 --> 00:01:51.840 why I'm genuinely excited and why I've been hammering 00:01:51.840 --> 00:01:55.030 this on X. There are currently about 94 ,000 00:01:55.030 --> 00:01:58.829 buyers versus roughly 22 to 24 ,000 sellers on 00:01:58.829 --> 00:02:02.030 the X4O2 marketplaces. That's roughly five times 00:02:02.030 --> 00:02:04.569 more buyers than sellers in the last 30 days 00:02:04.569 --> 00:02:07.609 alone. We're talking over 75 million transactions 00:02:07.609 --> 00:02:11.150 and $24 million in volume. AI agents literally 00:02:11.150 --> 00:02:13.310 have a credit card and they're using it in nano 00:02:13.310 --> 00:02:16.530 payments at 0001 company. We're now doing hundreds 00:02:16.530 --> 00:02:18.810 of transactions a day selling our data to outside 00:02:18.810 --> 00:02:21.180 agents. It started almost by accident when our 00:02:21.180 --> 00:02:23.500 own agents started requesting data from elsewhere. 00:02:23.879 --> 00:02:26.740 That kicked off months of real research. Wow, 00:02:26.960 --> 00:02:29.539 the agents were asking to buy stuff. Now, you 00:02:29.539 --> 00:02:31.960 mentioned research. How deep did you go on this? 00:02:32.280 --> 00:02:35.099 It was deep. I spent months just studying what 00:02:35.099 --> 00:02:37.599 these agents are actually buying and what they're 00:02:37.599 --> 00:02:39.919 going to need next. I've helped dozens of people 00:02:39.919 --> 00:02:43.259 set up their own X402 content already. This isn't 00:02:43.259 --> 00:02:45.580 theory. I'm transacting on it live while I write 00:02:45.580 --> 00:02:47.919 about it. My background in payments, plus everything 00:02:47.919 --> 00:02:50.199 I've been researching on AI agents for years, 00:02:50.259 --> 00:02:52.240 gives me a perspective most people don't have. 00:02:52.659 --> 00:02:55.560 I wanted to hand people the general store in 00:02:55.560 --> 00:02:57.340 this gold rush instead of making them figure 00:02:57.340 --> 00:02:59.659 it out from scratch. This is really revolutionary, 00:02:59.860 --> 00:03:02.449 Brian. So for someone listening who has valuable 00:03:02.449 --> 00:03:05.550 data, content, code, or even just unique insights, 00:03:05.789 --> 00:03:07.810 how realistic is it for them to start getting 00:03:07.810 --> 00:03:11.189 paid by AI agents? A great question. Very realistic. 00:03:11.370 --> 00:03:13.389 And that's the exciting part. You don't need 00:03:13.389 --> 00:03:15.250 to ask anyone's permission. No demonetization 00:03:15.250 --> 00:03:18.509 risk. No platform can ban you. It's automatic, 00:03:18.810 --> 00:03:21.710 instant, and simple. You create content or data 00:03:21.710 --> 00:03:24.849 that's useful to agents at X402 support. It's 00:03:24.849 --> 00:03:26.949 dramatically easier than old payment APIs. And 00:03:26.949 --> 00:03:29.840 the agents find you and pay. I show exactly how 00:03:29.840 --> 00:03:31.620 I'm doing it in the article, what works, what 00:03:31.620 --> 00:03:33.379 agents are responding to, and the practical steps. 00:03:33.580 --> 00:03:36.139 This is the shift to the agentic economy where 00:03:36.139 --> 00:03:37.780 the primary customers aren't humans anymore. 00:03:37.939 --> 00:03:40.159 They're autonomous AI agents. Businesses and 00:03:40.159 --> 00:03:42.099 creators who get this earlier are going to have 00:03:42.099 --> 00:03:44.580 a huge advantage. The ones who ignore it, they're 00:03:44.580 --> 00:03:46.199 going to get left behind by this massive new 00:03:46.199 --> 00:03:48.680 cohort of buyers. Wow. That sounds like a real 00:03:48.680 --> 00:03:50.900 opportunity for people who want the full picture, 00:03:51.039 --> 00:03:53.319 the research, the exact how -to, the examples, 00:03:53.580 --> 00:03:55.680 all of your hard work, where should they go? 00:03:56.180 --> 00:03:58.520 Thanks for asking. Go straight to the article 00:03:58.520 --> 00:04:02.000 on readmultiplex .com. It's all there. And if 00:04:02.000 --> 00:04:04.400 you want the deeper, ongoing research, the member 00:04:04.400 --> 00:04:06.319 -only insights, and to be part of the community 00:04:06.319 --> 00:04:08.620 figuring this out together, become a member. 00:04:08.800 --> 00:04:11.039 That's how we fund this work and keep pushing 00:04:11.039 --> 00:04:12.960 the frontier. I'm already doing it live. You 00:04:12.960 --> 00:04:15.159 can, too. This is the early gold rush, and the 00:04:15.159 --> 00:04:17.980 invitation is open. Brian, this is genuinely 00:04:17.980 --> 00:04:19.800 one of the most exciting shifts we've talked 00:04:19.800 --> 00:04:22.069 about in a while. Thanks for breaking it down 00:04:22.069 --> 00:04:25.189 so clearly. We are very lucky to have your work 00:04:25.189 --> 00:04:27.389 available. No one is researching this like you 00:04:27.389 --> 00:04:29.589 are. The link to the full article and membership 00:04:29.589 --> 00:04:32.110 is in the show notes. Go read it, implement it, 00:04:32.189 --> 00:04:34.230 and let us know what you start earning. Brian, 00:04:34.329 --> 00:04:36.329 we'll have you back soon. Looking forward to 00:04:36.329 --> 00:04:39.009 it. Thank you. And that's a wrap. Thank you for 00:04:39.009 --> 00:04:41.509 listening in. Today we will be back for our regular 00:04:41.509 --> 00:04:43.629 podcast. I want to leave you with one question. 00:04:44.069 --> 00:04:46.910 What will you sell to AI agents? Think about 00:04:46.910 --> 00:04:47.990 it. Bye for now.