AI-driven payments on the XRP Ledger have surged since July, when the network crossed its first million agentic transactions through the x402 infrastructure, according to data from the XRPL AI Hub.
The rapid rise follows the launch of the XRPL AI Hub by Ripple-backed t54.ai, which enables automated software agents to initiate blockchain payments without manual approval. After the hub’s deployment, activity accelerated from around 1 million agentic transactions in July to more than 13 million by October 10, with data showing 13,489,468 agentic transactions and 168 registered merchants around that time. A forecast by a Ripple executive, Akinyele, suggested that 100 million might come sooner than expected, noting the possibility of the XRP Ledger eventually processing that many automated payments. He also said agentic payments accounted for roughly a quarter of activity on the XRP Ledger, without providing a detailed time frame or methodology for the share.
The growth is tied to ongoing development of automated payment tools. On June 9, Ripple introduced the XRPL AI Starter Kit, a toolkit to help developers build applications capable of sending and receiving payments automatically. The toolkit supports x402 payments using XRP and RLUSD, along with wallet management and transaction monitoring. It includes features for AI agents to create wallets, check balances, initiate transfers and retrieve transaction information, enabling automated applications to perform routine payment tasks within predefined limits. The XRP Ledger settlement process typically completes transactions in three to five seconds, supporting both native XRP payments and RLUSD, a dollar-backed stablecoin. RLUSD requires accounts to establish a trust line with the issuer before holding or receiving the token. The x402 integration reduces the need to build separate checkout systems for individual services. The protocol uses HTTP 402 Payment Required to present a payment request before granting access to content, allowing an AI agent to respond with a signed transaction that a facilitator can verify and submit to the blockchain. While no specific merchant partnerships or targets were announced in October, the overall expansion hinges on developers integrating the payment tools and merchants accepting automated transactions.
Ripple’s ongoing expansion of AI payment tools, including support for XRP and RLUSD, aims to broaden the use of automated payments for services such as data feeds and computing resources. The system is designed to enable payments without separate subscriptions or manual checkout, potentially increasing the frequency of micro-payments and the scale of automation-enabled business processes. The expansion into more commercial services depends on developers adopting the tools and merchants accepting automated transactions, with the two currencies providing options based on liquidity needs and price stability.
Former Ripple executive Chandler Fang expects the next stage to involve more real-world merchants moving services onto blockchain infrastructure and using t54’s x402 facilitator for settlement. He noted the jump from approximately 1 million agentic transactions in July to more than 13 million in October and predicted more businesses would connect their products and services to the XRP Ledger, allowing AI agents to pay directly using XRP or RLUSD. Fang cautioned that the next phase would depend on merchant adoption and developer integration, and did not announce a specific partnership or target.
Akinyele’s October forecast remains a projection rather than a deadline. He said 100 million x402 transactions could become a future milestone, but the increase in transaction counts does not imply a corresponding rise in transaction value or revenue. The XRPL AI Hub’s settlement totals suggest many payments are small in value. At the October snapshot, more than 13 million transactions corresponded to roughly 6,982 XRP and 12,010 RLUSD in cumulative settlements.
At XRP Seoul 2026 on October 3, Akinyele discussed infrastructure for AI agents—verifiable identities, spending controls and secure wallets capable of handling XRP and stablecoin payments—as part of ongoing work to support automated transactions on the XRP Ledger. The public x402 implementation from t54 tracks validated payments, identifies participating merchants and records transaction information through an indexer connected to XRP Ledger nodes.
