World launches agentkit with Coinbase-backed x402 to verify human identity behind AI agents
The post World launches agentkit with Coinbase-backed x402 to verify human identity behind AI agents appeared on BitcoinEthereumNews.com.
As AI agents increasingly transact, shop, and act autonomously online — a market that can reach $3 trillion to $5 trillion by 2030 — a key issue comes into focus: how to verify that a real person is behind the activity. Sam Altman–backed identity project World (formerly WorldCoin) says it has the solution. On Tuesday, the company rolled out AgentKit, a developer toolkit that allows AI agents to carry cryptographic proof that they are backed by a unique human, using its World ID system. The product works with x402, a protocol developed by Coinbase and Cloudflare that enables “agentic payments” by embedding stablecoin micropayments into the internet’s communication layer so AI Agents and software can pay each other without human intervention. “Payments are the ‘how’ of agentic commerce, but identity is the ‘who,’” said Erik Reppel, head of engineering at Coinbase Developer Platform and founder of x402. “This is a massive step toward a web where agents aren’t just seen as automated traffic, but as legitimate economic participants.” The move comes as AI agents are rapidly evolving, handling time-consuming and often frustrating tasks from booking reservations to surfing e-commerce marketplaces for the best deals. Some estimates suggest agentic commerce could reach $3 trillion to $5 trillion by 2030, with agents accounting for up to 25% of U.S. e-commerce, World said. Coinbase founder Brian Armstrong said he believes “very soon” there will be more AI agents than humans making transactions. Binance founder Changpeng Zhao went further, predicting agents will make one million times more payments than people, “and they will use crypto.” The missing piece However, as the agentic commerce market expands, its widespread use creates a problem that payments alone cannot solve: identity. “One person could run thousands of agents that all pay small fees,” said DC Builder, a research…
Filed under: News - @ March 18, 2026 12:25 am