MoonPay has launched PayBox, a payment vault that enables ChatGPT and Claude users to instruct AI to purchase crypto, swap tokens, and transfer assets cross-chain. Users connect their crypto wallets along with payment methods - such as debit cards, bank accounts, Apple Pay, or PayPal - directly to the AI system. From there, transactions are prepared entirely by the bot through standard natural language text prompts.
How PayBox Secures Funds from AI
When the AI prepares a transaction, users are given two approval workflows. They can approve each purchase individually using passkeys, or set upfront spending limits. If the latter option is selected, ChatGPT or Claude can autonomously execute trades as long as they stay within that predefined limit.
Granting AI access to funds inherently carries risks, leading PayBox to implement multi-party computation (MPC) and trusted execution environments (TEE) to safeguard wallet keys. With these protections in place, neither MoonPay nor the AI models have any means to access user funds independently. For developers looking to embed similar capabilities into their own AI applications, MoonPay has provided a software development kit (SDK) for direct integration.
Adopting Standards Originated by Coinbase
In its operations, PayBox also supports the x402 protocol. This is an open payment standard originally designed by crypto exchange Coinbase before its governance was transitioned to the Linux Foundation in April 2026. Coinbase itself has built an extensive ecosystem using the x402 standard, enabling AI agents to accept USDC-denominated payments, execute crypto trades, and process high-frequency microtransactions.
The reach of x402 is expanding further across major tech players and security infrastructure. AWS has integrated the protocol into its Bedrock AgentCore Payments product. In the institutional custody space, security firm Fireblocks has also officially joined the foundation stewarding x402.
Surging Machine Transaction Volumes
The impact of AI payment standards is evident in on-chain network activity. The x402 dashboard reported over 12.7 million transactions within just the past 30 days. Similar findings were highlighted by analytics firm Chainalysis, which recorded more than 100 million agentic transactions across Coinbase’s Layer-2 Base network over roughly nine months. The ability of AI to interact with blockchains opens up new avenues: crypto has evolved into capital that bots can spend directly, without waiting for human fingers to press the buy button. Reported by Cointelegraph.
Read also: What Is DeFi (Decentralized Finance)?
Disclaimer: This article is for informational and educational purposes only, not financial advice. Cryptocurrency assets are highly volatile and carry significant risk. Always do your own research (DYOR) and never invest more than you can afford to lose.
