The Intelligence Layer Gap

Internet-native payment protocols, including x402-style flows, assume that:

• the requesting entity is valid,

• the intent is rational,

• and the associated risk is acceptable.

In practice, modern on-chain environments involve:

• human users,

• algorithmic traders,

• autonomous AI agents,

• and hybrid human–AI decision loops.

In such systems, behavior itself becomes a signal. Without an intelligence layer capable of interpreting this behavior, payment-native infrastructure risks amplifying errors, exploits, or misaligned incentives at machine speed.