Why x402 Captures Zero Value w/ Erik Reppel (Coinbase)

Presented by Stablecon; Powered by BVNK.In this episode of Money Code, hosts Chuk Okpalugo and Raj Parekh sit down with Erik Reppel, Head of Engineering for Coinbase's Developer Platform and the creator of x402 — the open payment protocol that just joined the Linux Foundation with Google, Stripe, Visa, Mastercard, AWS, and Cloudflare as founding members.They unpack why Erik designed x402 to capture zero value, how "the wallet is a universal API key" that eliminates sign-up friction for a new class of non-technical builders, and what the "agentic premium" means for companies leaving money on the table with free tiers.Subscribe and listen to the Money Code podcast here:https://lnk.to/MoneyCodeSNChapters00:00 The Foundation: "phase two of three of our secret master plan"02:03 What x402 actually does: "a standard way of telling a computer how to pay you"03:36 The mechanism: how declaration is decoupled from the rail06:03 Inside the stack: facilitators, SDKs, and 13 live implementations09:09 Why agents can't be on both sides of every payment integration16:50 The ad model is breaking — how publishers monetize agent traffic20:38 The Claude cowork class: "the people who find x402 most valuable are not developers"24:51 "The wallet is a universal API key"30:44 The agentic premium: charging more per request than subscriptions32:54 Where to build: Solana at 65% of volume and why it's hard to measure39:59 Value creation, not value capture: why one open standard is the goal44:41 VHS vs Betamax: simplicity as the path to critical mass48:17 Where to find Erik and x402Connect with the Hosts & GuestChuk Okpalugo: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chuk-okpalugo/ | https://x.com/chuk_xyz/ | http://stablecoinblueprint.comRaj Parekh: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rajparekh7/ | https://x.com/rajparekh | http://monad.xyzErik Reppel: https://x.com/programmer | https://x402.org | https://cdp.coinbase.comAbout StableconStablecon (https://stablecon.com/) is the premier gathering for those at the intersection of DeFi, economic policy, financial infrastructure, and institutional integration, and those reinventing global commerce. By convening the brightest minds in fintech and crypto, Stablecon provides attendees with world class thought leadership and fosters unparalleled networking and strategic collaboration across the digital payments industry. Whether you're building, advising, or navigating this new frontier, this is the room where it happens.About BVNKBVNK is the leading provider of stablecoin payments infrastructure, helping businesses move money faster, settle globally, and even launch their own stablecoin products. Head to https://bvnk.com/ to learn more.