Methodology

Every number comes from public Base blockchain data. No paid APIs, accounts or keys.

Window: blocks 52,355,240–52,657,640, 2026-10-08 22:50 → 2026-10-15 22:50 UTC (7.0 days). We chose a ~7-day sample because free RPCs cap log queries at 1,000 blocks.
Events: USDC (0x8335…2913) AuthorizationUsed logs, the EIP-3009 event every x402 “exact” payment emits.
x402 filter: we keep only transferWithAuthorization calls sent by one of 128 facilitator wallets listed in x402scan's open-source registry (Coinbase CDP, PayAI, Fluxa, Primer, thirdweb and others). Payer, payee and amount are decoded from the calldata.
Facilitators seen: coinbase 421,730, fluxa 1,493, primer 838, daydreams 102, openx402 74, openfacilitator 43, polymer 1.
Sources: tenderly and publicnode free public Base RPC endpoints. Scripts: fetch_base.py, fetch_funding.py, analyze_base.py, build_site.py.

A payment counts as real only if it trips none of these flags:

Self-payment: the payer and payee are the same wallet.
Circular flow: the payee also paid the payer through x402 in the window (A↔B), or the payment is part of a 3-wallet cycle (A→B→C→A).
Buyer funded by the merchant: outside x402, the merchant's wallet sent USDC directly to this buyer during the window. This check covers the top 150 merchants by volume.
Tiny repeated payments: the same buyer paid the same merchant 100 or more times, averaging $0.01 or less.
Single-buyer merchant: only one wallet paid this merchant in the window.

This covers Base only. Solana and other chains are not included, so totals are smaller than x402scan's multi-chain 30-day figures.
It only sees facilitators in the registry. Unlisted facilitators and non-USDC tokens are missed.
“Same funder” clusters, where many buyers are funded by one outside wallet, are not screened yet. That needs each buyer's full funding history, which costs too many free RPC calls.
Merchant funding uses direct USDC transfers only. ETH transfers and transfers routed through intermediaries are not checked.
Passing the screens does not prove a payment was made by an AI agent.