Onchain Credit Scoring with x402: Powering Agentic Finance via Pay-Per-Request APIs

Onchain Analytics Meets Native Internet Payments

Onchain analytics — the ability to derive insights from blockchain data — is foundational to DeFi risk management, agentic finance, and trustless commerce. But accessing this data has always required the same old dance: create an account, generate API keys, manage subscriptions.

That changes today. By integrating the x402 protocol developed by Coinbase, we've enabled permissionless, pay-per-request access to Cred Protocol's credit scoring infrastructure. The x402 standard transforms the long-dormant HTTP 402 "Payment Required" status code into a working payment layer — enabling instant stablecoin payments directly over HTTP.

This means anyone — human or autonomous agent — can access onchain credit data without creating an account. Just a wallet and USDC on Base.

Onchain Analytics Endpoints Now Available

Four onchain analytics endpoints are now available for instant pay-per-request access:

You can try these right now at credprotocol.com/try. Connect a wallet with USDC on Base, enter any Ethereum address or ENS name, and get instant results.

How x402 Works

The flow is elegantly simple:

1. Request: Client calls the API endpoint
2. 402 Response: Server responds with payment requirements (amount, recipient, network)
3. Sign: Client signs a USDC transfer authorization
4. Retry: Client resends request with signed payment header
5. Settle: Server verifies and settles payment on-chain
6. Deliver: Server returns the requested data

The entire process completes in seconds. No accounts. No API keys. No subscription management. Just a wallet and USDC.

The Identity API: Verified Credentials for Trust

Alongside credit scoring and financial reporting, we've enabled the Identity Attestations API for x402 payments. This endpoint returns verified identity proofs for any Ethereum address:

• ENS Names — Ethereum Name Service domain ownership (e.g., vitalik.eth)
• Basenames — Base network name service (e.g., username.base.eth)
• Gitcoin Passport — Humanity verification with sybil resistance (score ≥ 20)
• POAPs — Proof of Attendance Protocol tokens from conferences and events
• Worldcoin — Verified human credentials
• BrightID — Decentralized identity verification

Identity attestations complement credit scores by answering a different question: Who is this wallet? rather than How creditworthy is this wallet?

For agents making trust decisions, combining identity verification with credit scoring creates a more complete picture. A wallet might have a high credit score but no verified identity — or vice versa. Both signals matter for different use cases.

Why This Matters for Agentic Finance

Agentic finance — autonomous AI systems making financial decisions and transactions — is emerging as one of the most transformative applications of blockchain technology. But there's a problem: traditional API access models were never designed for machines.

Sure, an AI agent can fill out a registration form via browser automation. It can verify an email. But this is friction, not access. It's a workaround that adds latency, fragility, and unnecessary complexity. Traditional API access models treat machine clients as second-class citizens.

x402 changes this completely. An agent with a wallet can:

• Discover payment requirements from the 402 response
• Authorize exact-amount USDC transfers
• Pay for precisely what it needs, when it needs it
• Operate without human intervention for each transaction

This isn't theoretical. The x402 protocol has already processed over 15 million transactions across projects integrating it for AI and API payments.

Agentic Finance Use Cases: Onchain Credit Data in Action

What can autonomous agents do with instant access to onchain analytics and credit scoring? Here are five agentic finance scenarios we're already seeing explored:

1. Automated Lending Decisions

A DeFi lending agent receives a loan request. Before approving, it:

1. Queries the borrower's credit score ($0.01)
2. Pulls their full credit report ($0.07)
3. Makes a risk-adjusted decision on collateral requirements

Total cost: $0.08. Total time: seconds. No human in the loop.

2. Portfolio Risk Monitoring

A treasury management agent monitors a portfolio of 100 counterparties. Every hour, it:

1. Pulls credit scores for all addresses ($1.00 total)
2. Flags any significant score changes
3. Triggers alerts or rebalancing if thresholds are crossed

Continuous, autonomous risk surveillance at negligible cost.

3. Agentic Reputation and Trust Verification (ERC-8004)

As autonomous agents proliferate, agentic reputation becomes critical: how do you know which agents to trust? ERC-8004: Trustless Agents introduces on-chain Identity and Reputation registries for agent discovery and verification. Onchain credit data and identity attestations add both financial and identity dimensions to agentic reputation:

1. Agent queries the ERC-8004 Identity Registry for a counterparty agent
2. Pulls identity attestations to verify credentials ($0.01) — ENS ownership, Gitcoin Passport humanity verification, POAPs proving event attendance
3. Pulls the credit score of the agent's controlling wallet ($0.01)
4. Checks the full report for financial history and protocol interactions ($0.07)
5. Combines on-chain reputation, verified identity, and credit profile to make trust decisions

Before transacting with another agent, verify not just who they claim to be, but whether they have verified identity credentials and a track record of honoring financial obligations.

4. Identity-Gated Access and Sybil Resistance

A DeFi protocol agent needs to verify users before granting access:

1. User requests access to a premium feature or airdrop
2. Agent queries identity attestations ($0.01)
3. Verifies Gitcoin Passport (humanity proof) or ENS ownership
4. Grants access only to verified humans or established identities

Total cost: $0.01. Sybil attacks prevented. No centralized KYC required.

5. Dynamic Insurance Pricing

An insurance protocol agent calculates premiums in real-time:

1. User requests coverage quote
2. Agent pulls credit data to assess risk profile
3. Premium is calculated based on creditworthiness
4. Policy is issued — all in one interaction

6. Real-Time Underwriting for NFT Lending

An NFT-collateralized lending agent receives a loan request against a Bored Ape:

1. Verifies NFT ownership and floor price
2. Pulls borrower's credit score to assess repayment likelihood ($0.01)
3. Retrieves full report to check for prior liquidations ($0.07)
4. Calculates risk-adjusted LTV and interest rate
5. Issues loan terms — all within the same transaction

Instant, personalized lending terms based on both collateral and borrower creditworthiness.

The Economics of Agentic Finance

Traditional API pricing doesn't work for agentic finance. Monthly subscriptions assume human budget cycles. Tiered plans assume predictable usage patterns. Credit card payments assume, well, humans.

x402 enables a different model:

• Micropayments: Pay $0.01 for a single score, not $100/month for unlimited access you might not use
• No minimums: An agent can make one request or one million
• No commitments: No contracts, no cancellation fees, no billing disputes
• Instant settlement: Payment and delivery happen atomically

This aligns incentives perfectly. Providers get paid for value delivered. Consumers pay only for what they use. Agents can operate economically at any scale.

Why Base Network

We chose to launch on Base for several reasons:

• Low fees: Base's L2 architecture means transaction costs are negligible
• Fast finality: Payments settle quickly, enabling responsive APIs
• USDC native: Circle's USDC is natively supported with high liquidity
• Coinbase ecosystem: Tight integration with the x402 facilitator service

The Coinbase Developer Platform provides a fee-free facilitator that handles payment verification and settlement, making the integration seamless for both providers and consumers.

Try It Now

We've built an interactive playground where you can experience x402 payments firsthand:

1. Visit credprotocol.com/try
2. Connect a Coinbase Wallet (or any compatible wallet)
3. Enter any Ethereum address or ENS name
4. Click "Send Request" to see the payment requirement
5. Sign the USDC authorization
6. Receive your credit data instantly

No account creation. No API key generation. Just connect, pay, and receive data.

What This Means for Developers Building Agentic Systems

If you're building agentic finance applications or systems that need onchain analytics, you now have two paths:

Traditional API Access

• Create an account at app.credprotocol.com
• Get 1,000 free credits monthly
• Upgrade for higher limits
• Use API keys for authentication

x402 Pay-Per-Request

• No account needed
• Pay with USDC on Base
• Perfect for agents and autonomous systems
• Scale from 1 to 1 million requests seamlessly

Both paths access the same underlying credit infrastructure. Choose based on your use case.

The Future of Agentic Finance and Onchain Reputation

We believe x402 represents a fundamental shift in how agentic finance will operate. As AI agents become more capable and autonomous, they need economic primitives that match their nature — instant, permissionless, and machine-readable.

Onchain analytics and credit data are just the beginning. Imagine a future where agents can:

• Pay for compute resources and onchain analytics on demand
• Build and verify agentic reputation through financial track records
• Access any API without human intermediation
• Transact with other agents based on verified creditworthiness

By enabling x402 payments for onchain credit scoring, we're building infrastructure for the agentic economy — systems that serve both humans and machines.

Get Started

• Try the API Playground — experience x402 payments live
• Read the Documentation — full API reference and integration guides
• Create a Free Account — get 1,000 credits monthly
• Learn About x402 — understand the protocol

Questions about onchain analytics, agentic finance, or x402 integration? Reach out on Twitter or join our Discord.

The infrastructure for agentic finance is here. Let's build it together.