ARE MERCHANTS LOSING MONEY TO X402 FACILITATOR FEES?

Summary from the TLDR Crypto newsletter

x402 hit 1-1.5 million transactions per day for the first time, with volume up ~2x versus June/July, but average transaction size has fallen to $0.023-$0.031. Since popular third-party facilitators (Coinbase CDP on Base, PayAI on Solana) charge a flat $0.001 per settlement, that fee now eats 32-43% of average transaction value. Batching, live since May, could cut that cost by 90-99% by settling thousands of transactions in one, but adoption remains near zero. There remain questions around whether tooling, counterparty risk, or accounting complexity is the blocker.