PANAMA CITY, Dec. 23, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- HTX Ventures, the global investment arm of HTX, has released a new research report titled Pulse in the Cold: How x402 and ERC-8004 Signal Web3's Next Technical Inflection Point. The report examines two emerging but often overlooked infrastructure upgrades—x402 and ERC-8004—and analyzes how they could reshape Web3's payment, identity, and coordination layers as machines increasingly become primary network users.

HTX Ventures points out that periods of cooling market sentiment have historically coincided with the quiet formation of technologies that later define the industry's next growth phase. In the current cycle, as price-driven narratives lose momentum, x402 and ERC-8004 stand out as structurally significant signals pointing to a deeper transformation underway.

It's worth noting that the technical developments of machine economy have caught the attention of the industry leaders. HTX has actively tracked advances in AI agent–driven and machine-economy–oriented infrastructure this year, and has already listed projects associated with the x402 sector, including PING and PAYAI. These listings provide users with early exposure to technologies that may underpin future machine-native markets.

Machines Are Becoming the Internet's New Primary Users

The report places today's market environment in a broader historical context. From NFTs and DeFi to rollups, many of Web3's most consequential infrastructure developments took shape during downturns, when attention shifted away from price action and toward underlying capabilities.

HTX Ventures observes that a similar pattern is emerging today, driven by a fundamental change in who—or what—uses the internet. Automation scripts, API-based services, AI agents, and model inference systems are rapidly increasing their share of global network activity. Unlike human users, these machine users do not rely on interfaces or subjective decision-making. Instead, they operate at high frequency, require fully automated execution, and depend on programmable, verifiable settlement.

This shift places new demands on infrastructure. Traditional Web2 systems, built around human workflows, account-based access, and centralized trust, struggle to support large-scale, machine-to-machine interaction. By contrast, Web3's native properties—programmable payments, on-chain identity, and verifiable execution—are structurally aligned with the needs of machine-driven activity.

x402 and ERC-8004: A Minimal Infrastructure Stack for the Machine Economy

HTX Ventures argues that x402 and ERC-8004 should not be viewed as isolated proposals, but as complementary responses to a single question: how machines can participate in economic activity.

x402 redefines how payment functions on the internet. By reviving the long-dormant HTTP 402 ("Payment Required") status code, x402 turns payment into a protocol-level semantic rather than a user-interface flow. A server can directly specify payment conditions, while a calling machine can autonomously complete the payment—typically via stablecoins—and proceed with execution. In this model, payment becomes machine-readable, machine-executable, and scalable, positioning stablecoins as a natural form of "machine money."

ERC-8004 addresses the problem of trust and cooperation between machines. In a world where software agents can be copied or replaced at will, the default state is not weak trust, but zero trust. ERC-8004 introduces a standardized framework for task description and execution proofs, allowing agent behavior to be recorded, verified, and tracked on-chain. Over time, these records form a data-driven reputation, enabling collaboration based on verifiable history rather than implicit trust.

At a higher level, the report frames x402 and ERC-8004 as forming a minimal closed loop for the machine economy: payment, execution, verification, reputation, and cooperation. Within this loop, machines evolve from passive tools into active economic participants capable of initiating requests, bearing responsibility, and accumulating track records.

Conclusion

HTX Ventures concludes that major technical inflection points rarely coincide with immediate market feedback. Instead, they emerge gradually at the structural level. As machines increasingly become the internet's dominant users, Web3's role is likely to shift—from a human-facing interaction layer to a foundational system for machine payment, execution, and trust.

In this transition, x402 and ERC-8004 may not immediately dominate headlines, but they could become enduring components of future automated systems, forming a critical foundation for Web3's next phase of technical evolution.

About HTX Ventures

HTX Ventures is the global investment arm of HTX, integrating investment, incubation, and research to identify and discover the best and most innovative projects in the market. Visit us here.

SOURCE HTX Ventures