Micropayments
Small-scale digital asset transactions for low-value goods or services.
What is Micropayments?
Micropayments are small, often sub-dollar digital asset transactions used to monetize low-value web resources, such as articles, data feeds, or API calls. In the x402 protocol, micropayments enable clients like AI agents to pay for specific resources (e.g., per page crawled or per data query) using stablecoins or other digital assets. This approach supports granular monetization, reducing reliance on subscriptions and enabling new use cases like real-time data access or per-use tool payments.
Related Terms
Ethereum EOA Account
An externally owned account on Ethereum, controlled by a private key and used to initiate transactions.
Concentrated Liquidity
A DeFi mechanism allowing liquidity providers to allocate capital within specific price ranges for higher efficiency.
Perpetual Swap
Also called Perpetual Futures, a derivative contract allowing traders to speculate on digital asset prices without an expiration date.
Blockchain Trilemma
The blockchain trilemma refers to the challenge of balancing three core properties—decentralization, security, and scalability—in a blockchain network, where optimizing one often compromises the others.
Depth Chart
A visual graph depicting the cumulative buy and sell orders across price ranges in an order book.
51% Attack
A 51% attack occurs when a single entity or group controls over 50% of a blockchain’s computing power or stake, allowing them to manipulate the network’s transaction ledger.