Last Tuesday, I used my computer to grab a few cents from a WeChat red envelope and was restricted from logging in by Tencent. They said I was using cheats!! But I really wasn't!
This incident has made me angry for an entire week, causing me to see any centralized platform as an enemy. What gives them the right to wrongfully accuse me?
In recent days, everyone in the circle has been arguing about who can win in AI payments, Coinbase's x402 or GOAT Network's x402?
With my resentment towards Tencent, I went to browse the official tweets of both companies. After reading, I realized: everyone has completely misunderstood the focus; these two are not in a competitive relationship at all. Moreover, if you understand how Tencent banned my account, you will know who to choose in the future.
Many people mistakenly believe that x402 is a public chain or settlement network. In fact, it simply defines how machines say to each other using code: 'Hey, this API charges a fee, send me money' and 'Once the payment is made, give me the data.' This is purely an interface. Whether it's Coinbase or GOAT, everyone is using the same language, the divergence lies in who keeps the accounts and who provides the guarantees.
First, look at Coinbase; they actually operate in a custodial model, helping us verify settlements and conduct compliance reviews. The advantage is extreme convenience, making it very suitable for developers eager to go live, but the downside is that if their servers crash or are disconnected, or if a certain AI Agent is banned for compliance reasons, this system becomes ineffective.
Looking again at @GOAT Network , GOAT is actually not trying to create a payment channel, but rather aims to directly reconstruct a set of survival kits for AI on the chain, and several designs in this kit amaze me.
Coinbase acts in the role of Alipay (the platform says payment is made). But GOAT introduces Ziren, which directly generates cryptographic proofs (ZK) after transactions between AIs. Service providers do not need to trust any platform; they just need to verify the mathematical formulas themselves. This fundamentally separates the reliance on intermediaries. Speaking of this, I have to mention Tencent again; they are truly talented. Just imagine, if in the future your AI Agent works on a centralized platform, earns a pile of money, and then gets banned by the platform with one click, how will that business continue?
GOAT has directly provided AI with a persistent identity and reputation system. Reputable AIs can obtain the base price, while those with a bad track record are directly blacklisted. This is how a true AI economy should look; it not only has transactions but also credit accumulation.
Where is the safest place for AI to store the money it earns? Of course, it is the hardest assets. Through BitVM2 bridging, GOAT anchors the final settlement of the entire system on the Bitcoin network, ensuring that even if the intermediary layer fails, the AI's money can still be safely withdrawn.
If you are an outsourcing team looking to quickly create a payment-enabled AI tool for financing, pursuing speed and convenience, go with Coinbase. But if your ambition is to create a massive Agent-to-Agent network, and you want your AI to truly possess cross-chain sovereign credit accumulation, ultimately settling money in the Bitcoin network, I believe GOAT Network would be a better choice.