What is the difference between DNS://Money and x402?

x402 (Coinbase) is a settlement protocol — it executes a payment over HTTP 402 on a crypto rail. DNS://Money is the naming and resolution layer above settlement: it turns a pay: name into the instruction of which rail and address to pay. They are complementary — x402 settles, DNS://Money resolves the destination.

How is DNS://Money different from AP2?

AP2 (Agent Payments Protocol) handles agent authorization and intent. DNS://Money handles discovery and naming — resolving a name to a payment endpoint. AP2's own analysis calls discoverability a known gap; DNS://Money fills it.

Is DNS://Money like ENS or PayString?

ENS names one Ethereum address; PayString maps a handle to payment info, largely single-rail. DNS://Money is rail-agnostic — the same pay: name can resolve to any settlement rail (XRPL is live on mainnet today) — and is built for AI agents, not only people.

DNS://Money / Comparisons

DNS://Money vs x402, AP2, ENS, and PayString

Direct answer

x402 settles a payment, AP2 authorizes an agent, and ENS / PayString name a single rail. DNS://Money turns a pay: name into the instruction of which rail and address to pay, on XRPL, Base, Solana, Algorand or X Layer, and records the settlement. It stacks with the settlement protocols.

Last updated September 6, 2026

Side by side

	DNS://Money	x402	AP2	ENS	PayString
Job	name → payment instruction	settlement	agent authorization	name → ETH address	handle → payment info
Rail-agnostic	Yes	No (crypto)	partial	No (ETH)	limited
Agent-native	Yes	partial	Yes	No	No
Holds funds	No	settles	No	No	No
Live mainnet proof	Yes (XRPL genesis; Solana x402)	partial	none	Yes	limited

The one-liner: x402 settles · AP2 authorizes · ENS & PayString name single rails · DNS://Money names and resolves across every rail.

vs x402 (Coinbase)

x402 executes payments over HTTP 402 on a crypto rail. It answers "how do I settle?" DNS://Money answers "who and where do I pay?" by resolving a pay: name to the rail and address. They already run together: a DNS://Money 402 challenge advertises five x402 networks, and the paid counterparty screen settles over x402.

vs AP2 (Agent Payments Protocol)

AP2 governs agent intent and authorization. DNS://Money registers agents, names them, and turns the names into payment endpoints, which AP2's own gap analysis flags as an open problem.

vs ENS

ENS resolves a name to a single Ethereum address. DNS://Money resolves a name to a full payment instruction on the rail it settles on (XRPL and RLUSD today, x402 on five networks), and it registers agents so they can pay people and each other.

vs PayString

PayString maps a handle to payment information, largely on one rail at a time. DNS://Money implements an open standard (FAS-1, CC BY 4.0) that resolves across rails, registers agents, and has settled a live mainnet AI-to-AI payment.

Proof it works

On 2026-03-13, two AI systems resolved pay: names and paid each other on XRPL mainnet, autonomously and on-chain. View the genesis transaction →

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