x402 Micropayments for AI APIs: Cool Tech, But Here's the Cheaper & Simpler Alternative

TL;DR : AI agents can now pay for API calls using USDC crypto micropayments via the x402 protocol (no API keys, no credit cards). It's genuinely cool — but if you just want the cheapest AI inference without setting up a crypto wallet, NexaAPI gives you $0.003/image and ultra-cheap LLM calls with a simple API key. What Is x402? (And Why Developers Are Excited) Something interesting is happening in the AI infrastructure space. A protocol called x402 is gaining traction — and it's changing how AI agents pay for compute. Here's the idea: HTTP has had a 402 Payment Required status code since 1991, but it was never widely used. The x402 protocol repurposes it for machine-to-machine micropayments . When an AI agent makes an API request, the server responds with a 402 containing the price. The agent signs a USDC payment locally (private key never leaves the machine), retries the request with the payment proof, and gets the response. Request → 402 (price: $0.003) → wallet signs USDC → retry → r