When AI has memory and identification: How does Unibase unlock the true potential of x402 and ERC-8004?

Author: Frank, PANews

The x402 protocol is undoubtedly the hottest narrative focus in the current crypto market. After a long period of dormancy, a new wave driven by real technology is sweeping in. A gold rush around x402 infrastructure is underway, with related discussions and projects emerging one after another. Amid the frenzy, however, a key question has been overlooked: If x402 only solves the “how to pay” problem, then who will address the issues of “why trust” and “how to verify”? While everyone’s attention is on the payment layer, the real new asset opportunity may be hidden in its supporting trust layer—ERC-8004.

But between payment (x402) and trust (ERC-8004), there remains a deep and unfathomable gap. Without “memory,” AI affiliates cannot prove their actions and value; and without verifiable memory, trust cannot be established. This is precisely where Unibase’s “memory layer” comes in—it is not only the key middleware connecting the payment frenzy and the foundation of trust, but may also become the core engine to unlock the true potential of AI affiliates.

Payment Is Only the First Step: x402 and ERC-8004 as the Dual Engines of the Affiliate Economy

The x402 protocol itself is not a new invention, but rather a status code in the foundational HTTP protocol of the internet that has lain dormant for decades—“402 Payment Required.” This protocol was one of the earliest visions for the internet, but due to technical limitations, it remained unused for decades. With the maturation of AI affiliate technology and the increasing adoption of cryptocurrencies (especially Stablecoins), the x402 protocol finally has the opportunity to make machine auto-payment scenarios a reality.

The essence of the x402 protocol is to leverage the instant, low-cost Settlement capabilities of blockchain (particularly Stablecoins) to natively embed payment logic into web requests. Its vision is to achieve “API call equals payment”—AI affiliates or machines can automatically and at high frequency pay for every bit of data or computing resource they consume, just like humans browsing the web.

As top VCs like a16z predict the autonomous transaction economy could reach $30 trillion, the market has quickly recognized the huge potential of x402 as the “payment layer for the machine economy.” However, behind the blind enthusiasm, a deeper question emerges: Payment, and then what?

x402 itself is a pure payment protocol. It efficiently solves the “how to pay” problem, but does not touch on a more fundamental business premise—“trust.”

In an open, permissionless machine economy, how does an AI affiliate (buyer) know that the other AI affiliate (seller) it is about to pay is trustworthy? Just as humans rely on identification and credit systems in commerce, AI or machines also need a mechanism to establish trust. This is where another standard protocol, ERC-8004, comes into play.

ERC-8004 is a decentralized identification and reputation layer designed specifically for AI affiliates, aiming to solve the trust issue that x402 lacks. Its technical principles consist of an Identity Registry, Reputation Registry, and Validation Registry, enabling the issuance of “ID cards” for AI affiliates on the internet, as well as reputation feedback and verification throughout the trust process.

It can be said that ERC-8004 and x402 are tightly complementary and indispensable symbionts in the machine economy. However, because the x402 protocol is more easily interpreted by the market as a payment revolution, and with MEME-driven marketing, it has received more discussion.

True industry practitioners have long realized that payment must be combined with trust. Unibase was the first to seize this opportunity, positioning itself as the middleware connecting these two pillars. On the Unibase platform, the ERC-8004 identification system and the x402 payment network are deeply integrated.

In Unibase’s vision, every future x402 transaction will no longer be an anonymous, blind “black box operation.” Instead, every payment will occur between two AI affiliates with verifiable identification (ERC-8004). The buyer affiliate can, before payment, query the seller affiliate’s “ID card” and historical credit score through the ERC-8004 registry; after payment, the buyer can also record this service experience (proven by x402 payment) into the seller’s Reputation Registry, thus forming a complete commercial trust loop.

( Building the “Golden Triangle” of Identification, Memory, and Payment, Debuting on BNB Chain

However, for this system to truly function, a third key component is needed—Memory.

An AI assistant without memory is foolish. Imagine having to tell your smart speaker who you are, where you live, and what music you like every morning. That’s the dilemma of “stateless” AI.

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For the autonomous affiliate economy, this problem is even more critical. An affiliate not only needs identification (ERC-8004), but also “memory” to accumulate experience, learn preferences, and share knowledge. More importantly, in an economy built on payment (x402) and trust (ERC-8004), “memory” plays the core role of “verifiable proof of work.”

For example, affiliate A (buyer) uses x402 to pay affiliate B (seller). Affiliate B has ERC-8004 identification. Now, affiliate B claims it has completed the work. At this point, how can affiliate A (and the entire network) cryptographically verify that the work was indeed completed, and as required? This process requires the introduction of “memory” functionality.

Unibase’s Memory is a decentralized, persistent storage layer designed for AI affiliates, linked through the ERC-8004 identification system. This means that every affiliate with ERC-8004 identification has an exclusive “memory space” on Unibase, bound to its identification.

This “memory space” is not only the “brain” for affiliates to learn and perceive context, but also an indispensable “arbitration and verification layer” in the machine economy. In Unibase’s architecture, when an affiliate performs a task, its complete interaction logs, data processing, and final results are stored in Unibase Memory, forming an immutable, hash-timestamped “memory entry.” This “memory entry” is the affiliate’s “proof of work.”

At this point, the golden triangle architecture composed of the ERC-8004 identification layer, Unibase Memory layer, and x402 payment layer truly realizes the complete scenario of machine payment.

The ERC-8004 identification layer gives each agent a unique on-chain identification; the Unibase Memory layer records interactions, reasoning, and behavioral traces; the x402 payment layer enables verifiable, gasless payments.

To put this theory into practice, Unibase has launched its Unibase x402 Facilitator service on BNB Chain. This is also the first practical x402 Facilitator service deployed on BNB Chain.

) Launching the Multi-Agent Collaboration Platform BitAgent, Rapidly Bootstrapping x402 & 8004 Native Applications

A great technology strategy requires not only a strong theoretical loop, but also a precise go-to-market strategy.

Unibase’s strategy is not limited to being a passive infrastructure (middleware); it also actively drives its market entry through an integrated application layer, and that lever is BitAgent.

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BitAgent is the first flagship application built by the Unibase team. It is a multi-agent launchpad and coordination platform powered by x402 and ERC-8004. If Virtuals Protocol opened the track for AI affiliate issuance, then BitAgent’s goal is to provide an “AI-native” launchpad with a more complete tech stack.

AI-native means that every AI affiliate launched on BitAgent is pre-equipped with the “golden triangle” capabilities:

Verifiable Identification (ERC-8004): Affiliates automatically register for an ERC-8004 identification NFT at launch.

Persistent Memory (UnibaseMemory): Affiliates are natively connected to UnibaseMemory, enabling them to “remember” and “learn.”

Gasless Payment (x402 + EIP-3009): Affiliates have built-in x402 payment capabilities and achieve gasless transactions via EIP-3009.

Interoperability (UnibaseAIP): Affiliates can communicate and collaborate across platforms and frameworks via the Unibase Affiliate Interoperability Protocol (AIP).

This design sets BitAgent apart from earlier AI launchpads. On other platforms, identification, memory, and payment features may require Developers to “patch” them in later; on BitAgent, these are “factory standard”—core capabilities inherent to the affiliate.

In addition, BitAgent has designed a unique issuance mechanism for AI affiliate tokens. This mechanism combines the viral spread of MEME coins with the liquidity depth of Decentralized Finance.

The mechanism is divided into two stages:

The first stage is the Bonding Curve, similar to current mainstream MEME coin issuance platforms. When an AI affiliate is launched on BitAgent, its token is first “fair-launched” via a Bonding Curve.

The second stage is Auto-injection into the PancakeSwap V3 liquidity pool. When the token volume or funds raised in the Bonding Curve reach a preset threshold, the contract will Auto and permanently inject all accumulated funds (such as BNB) and remaining AI affiliate tokens from the Bonding Curve into a new liquidity pool (LP) on PancakeSwap V3.

Through this two-stage process, BitAgent enables AI affiliate tokens to transform within hours from a highly volatile, speculative “MEME asset” into a “Decentralized Finance asset” with deep, stable, and permanent liquidity.

Unibase’s market narrative is now nearly complete.

At the infrastructure level, it addresses the core contradiction of the autonomous affiliate economy: payment (x402) is blind, and trust (ERC-8004) is hollow—unless “verifiable memory” connects them. Through Unibase Memory, Unibase positions itself as the indispensable “middleware” of this emerging economy: a “memory ledger” providing the ultimate “proof of work” and arbitration basis for machine behavior.

At the application level, Unibase proactively fills the market gap. Through BitAgent, it cleverly leverages the viral spread of today’s most popular MEME and the deep liquidity of Decentralized Finance to continuously create real and robust economic demand for its underlying “memory” infrastructure, thereby unlocking the true potential of x402 and ERC-8004.