programmable-money-x402

Encode Club Programmable Money Hackathon — Circle × Arc
Track: Agentic Economy — AI agents that hold wallets, pay and transact autonomously in USDC Repo (public): https://github.com/Gentech-Labs/programmable-money-x402

The Problem

AI agents need to pay for APIs, compute, and data — but there's no standard way to do it programmatically. Every integration means manual API keys, subscriptions, or custom payment flows. Real agent autonomy requires programmable money.

The Solution

x402 on Arc — a payment gateway that bridges Circle's USDC infrastructure with the HTTP 402 Payment Required standard:

1. An agent calls an API → gets HTTP 402 with payment requirements
2. The agent pays USDC on Arc (sub-second settlement, USDC fees)
3. Access is granted — no API keys, no signups, no human in the loop

This is programmable money for the agent economy.

Architecture

Agent → HTTP Request → x402 Middleware → HTTP 402 + Arc USDC invoice
           ↓                                        ↓
    Access Granted  ←  Payment Verified  ←  Agent pays USDC on Arc

Track Focus

Agentic Economy — AI agents hold wallets on Arc, pay for services in USDC autonomously, using Circle's stablecoin-native L1 for sub-second settlement.

Components

• x402 Gateway — middleware that drops into any API, handles 402 → payment → access
• Arc Settlement Layer — USDC transfers via Circle's infrastructure on Arc
• Agent SDK — one function call for any agent to pay x402 APIs
• Playground — test transactions, manage wallets, see the flow live

Why Arc + Circle

Arc is built for this — USDC as the native fee token, sub-second finality, and programmable wallet infrastructure. x402 on Arc means agents settle payments in the same block they're requested.

Deployment (LIVE on Arc testnet)

ArcAgentWallet.sol — autonomous agent wallet contract — deployed and verified on-chain:

What the deployed contract does: the agent wallet autonomously holds USDC, can be funded by any party, and executes agent-initiated transfers with a safety timeout — programmable money for agents, live on Circle's Arc L1.

Team

Jordan Jones — GenTech Labs

Timeline