Circle and Proof Help Businesses Trust AI Agent Transactions

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The companies’ demo will include an artificial intelligence agent presenting a Proof verified credential over Proof’s open identity protocol, x401, and paying in USDC stablecoin over the open protocol for internet-native payments, x402, from a Circle Agent Wallet, they said in a Monday press release.

The x401 protocol, which Proof published in June, uses the web’s HTTP 401 “Unauthorized” response so a site can tell an agent what proof of identity it needs, while x402 uses the HTTP 402 “Payment Required” response so a site can tell an agent what payment it needs, according to the release.

Because one protocol answers who the agent asks for, and the other answers how it pays, this combination lets a business pay an identity provider for each check on the spot, the release said.

The Proof wallet presents the person’s verified credential along with a signed credential for the purchase, the merchant checks the credential’s signature against Proof’s published public keys, the agent pays the merchant in USDC over x402 from a Circle Agent Wallet and the order completes, per the release.

Proof Founder and CEO Pat Kinsel said in the release that this demo shows that one exchange can provide both verified identity and payment.

“That gives businesses a reason to say yes to agents instead of blocking them,” Kinsel said.

Circle Vice President Product Gagan Mac said in the release: “Identity and payments are closely linked in the agentic economy, and we’re continuing to explore how they come together so businesses can trust the transactions agents make.”

Proof announced Oct. 15 that the x401 protocol supports Meta’s Muse, ChatGPT dots, Grok, Claude and other assistants that support the Model Context Protocol (MCP). The company said the protocol lets these AI agents prove who they represent and they are authorized to do.

Meanwhile, the x402 Foundation launched in July as an open-governance body with 40 organizations as initial members.