OKX Unveils Agent Payments Protocol for Autonomous AI Commerce

Cryptocurrency exchange OKX has launched the Agent Payments Protocol (APP), an open standard enabling AI agents to autonomously conduct full commercial transactions including negotiation, escrow, metering, settlement, and dispute resolution. The protocol defines four commercial intents: charge (instant peer-to-peer transfers), escrow (delivery-verified payments with dispute windows), session (streaming payments for metered services like API calls), and upto (pre-authorized maximum payments). APP operates across three layers: an off-chain Broker for orchestration, an on-chain settlement layer using OKX's Layer X for fast finality, and configurable policy extensions for splits and arbitration. It is transport-agnostic, working over HTTP, XMTP, Telegram, Discord, Slack, email, SMS, or QR codes. OKX reports backing from AWS, Alibaba Cloud, Nansen, Uniswap, Paxos, QuickNode, and blockchain ecosystems including Base, Ethereum Foundation, Solana, Sui, Aptos, and Optimism. The protocol competes with Coinbase's x402, Stripe's Machine Payments Protocol, and Visa's AI developer tools, but OKX positions APP as a complementary layer. OKX CEO Star Xu called it "the key step that brings the Agent economy to real-world implementation."