Agentic Economy Glossary

What is Micropayment?

Sub-cent transactions ($0.001 or less) enabling pay-per-use agent services.

Last updated · Curated by Rene Dechamps Otamendi

In depth

Micropayments unlock new business models where agents charge tiny fees per query, API call, or decision. A single LLM inference might cost $0.0001; aggregated across millions of inferences, this becomes real revenue. Blockchain and traditional card networks have high per-transaction overhead, making micropayments uneconomical. TCK and Coinbase's x402 standard enable this. Without micropayments, only bulk, high-value transactions are viable.

Why it matters

  • Sub-cent transactions
  • Pay-per-use models
  • API monetization
  • Protocol overhead
  • Revenue aggregation

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