The HTTP 402 status code, long allocated to “Payment Required” in the internet’s technical specifications without widespread deployment, has been repurposed as the foundational layer for machine-to-machine commerce. The gap between headline volume and present-day commercial reality is still wide. The network has recorded over 200 million transactions as of June 2026, according to Major Matters’ x402 Adoption Tracker. But Artemis Analytics found that more than 95% of that activity is protocol signaling not buyer-seller exchange.