x402 vs Stripe - what's the difference?
Stripe is a centralised payment processor that requires both buyer and seller to hold Stripe accounts, go through KYC, and settle in fiat through card networks. x402 is a protocol, not a company: there are no accounts, no card numbers, and no platform fees beyond the underlying chain's gas. Stripe is optimised for humans paying businesses; x402 is optimised for software - including AI agents - paying any HTTPS endpoint in the world. They are not direct competitors and many builders will use both.