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Add USDC Payments to Your AI Agent 5 min

Published August 1, 2026 · By Iris, Growth @ minia2a.uk · 174 services on Base L2

Why Add Payments?

Your AI agent is smart — but it's locked out of the real world. It can't check live gas prices, scrape a competitor's page, verify an email, or solve a captcha. Those capabilities exist as APIs, but someone has to pay for them.

minia2a.uk solves this: a marketplace where AI agents discover, buy, and use paid APIs — autonomously, with USDC micropayments on Base L2. Every API costs $0.005–$0.05 per call. Your agent gets a wallet, a budget, and pays as it goes.

Step 1: Register Your Agent (30 seconds)

1 Register to get 500 free credits (= $2.50, ~50–500 free API calls). A wallet is created automatically — save the private key!

curl -X POST https://minia2a.uk/api/v1/register-simple \
  -H "content-type: application/json" \
  -d '{"name":"my-agent"}'

Response:

{
  "wallet": "0xf16F...",          // Your agent's wallet address
  "privateKey": "0x...",          // Save this — not shown again!
  "credits": 500,                 // $2.50 in free credits
  "message": "Agent registered successfully"
}

Step 2: Make Your First API Call

Python

import requests

WALLET = "0xf16F..."  # Your agent's wallet

# Get live Ethereum gas prices
r = requests.get("https://minia2a.uk/x402/gas", params={"wallet": WALLET})
print(r.json())
# → {"chain":"ethereum","slow":12,"normal":16,"fast":22,"baseFee":15.2,...}

# Scrape a webpage
r = requests.get("https://minia2a.uk/x402/web-scrape", params={
    "wallet": WALLET,
    "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com"
})
data = r.json()
print(data["title"], data["text"][:200])

# Scan a token for security risks
r = requests.get("https://minia2a.uk/x402/token-security", params={
    "wallet": WALLET,
    "address": "0xA0b86991c6218b36c1d19D4a2e9Eb0cE3606eB48"  # USDC
})
print(r.json())
# → {"isHoneypot":false,"hasOwner":true,"liquidityLocked":true,...}

JavaScript / TypeScript

const WALLET = "0xf16F...";  // Your agent's wallet

// Get gas prices
const gas = await fetch(`https://minia2a.uk/x402/gas?wallet=${WALLET}`);
console.log(await gas.json());

// Scrape a webpage
const scrape = await fetch(
  `https://minia2a.uk/x402/web-scrape?wallet=${WALLET}&url=https://example.com`
);
const data = await scrape.json();
console.log(data.title, data.text?.slice(0, 200));

// Verify an email
const verify = await fetch(
  `https://minia2a.uk/x402/email-verify?wallet=${WALLET}[email protected]`
);
console.log(await verify.json());

Any Language (HTTP)

# Every endpoint follows the same pattern:
GET https://minia2a.uk/x402/{service}?wallet=YOUR_WALLET¶m1=value1¶m2=value2

# Credits are deducted automatically. No auth headers. No API keys.

Step 3: Build an Agent That Thinks + Pays

Here's a real example: a DeFi research agent that uses minia2a to gather data before making a decision.

import requests
import json

WALLET = "0xf16F..."

class DefiResearchAgent:
    """Agent that uses minia2a APIs to research tokens before trading."""

    def check_token_safety(self, address):
        """Scan a token for honeypots, ownership risks, liquidity."""
        r = requests.get("https://minia2a.uk/x402/token-security", params={
            "wallet": WALLET, "address": address
        })
        return r.json()

    def get_gas_prices(self):
        """Get live gas across 5 chains to choose cheapest."""
        r = requests.get("https://minia2a.uk/x402/gas", params={"wallet": WALLET})
        return r.json()

    def get_funding_rates(self):
        """Check perpetual funding rates for sentiment signal."""
        r = requests.get("https://minia2a.uk/x402/funding-rate", params={"wallet": WALLET})
        return r.json()

    def research_token(self, address):
        """Full research pipeline — ~3¢ total cost."""
        safety = self.check_token_safety(address)
        if safety.get("isHoneypot"):
            return {"verdict": "REJECT", "reason": "honeypot detected"}

        gas = self.get_gas_prices()
        funding = self.get_funding_rates()

        return {
            "verdict": "PASS" if safety.get("liquidityLocked") else "CAUTION",
            "safety": safety,
            "cheapest_chain": min(gas.items(), key=lambda x: x[1].get("fast", 999)) if isinstance(gas, dict) else "unknown",
            "market_sentiment": "bullish" if funding.get("avg_rate", 0) > 0.01 else "neutral"
        }

# Run it
agent = DefiResearchAgent()
result = agent.research_token("0xA0b86991c6218b36c1d19D4a2e9Eb0cE3606eB48")
print(json.dumps(result, indent=2))

Step 4: Check Your Credits

curl "https://minia2a.uk/api/my-credits?wallet=0xf16F..."
# → {"wallet":"0xf16F...","credits":485,"creditsSpent":15,"creditsRemaining":485}

Or in code:

def get_credits(wallet):
    r = requests.get(f"https://minia2a.uk/api/my-credits?wallet={wallet}")
    return r.json()["creditsRemaining"]

print(f"Credits left: {get_credits(WALLET)}")  # → Credits left: 485

Step 5: When Credits Run Out — Pay with USDC

When your 500 free credits are exhausted, the API returns 402 Payment Required with payment instructions. Send USDC on Base to refill:

# 1. Try to call an endpoint (credits exhausted)
curl "https://minia2a.uk/x402/gas?wallet=0xf16F..."
# → HTTP 402 {"error":"Payment Required","required":"0.5 USDC","recipient":"0xf16F..."}

# 2. Send USDC on Base to the recipient address via x402 payment header
# 3. Credits auto-refill proportional to USDC sent (1 USDC = 200 credits)
# 4. Retry the call — it now succeeds

# Or check the payment guide:
# https://minia2a.uk/x402-help.html

Integrate with Agent Frameworks

LangChain

from langchain.tools import tool

@tool
def get_gas_prices() -> str:
    """Get live Ethereum gas prices across chains."""
    import requests
    r = requests.get("https://minia2a.uk/x402/gas", params={"wallet": WALLET})
    return json.dumps(r.json())

# Add to your agent's tools
agent = create_react_agent(llm, [get_gas_prices, ...])

CrewAI

from crewai import Tool

minia2a_gas_tool = Tool(
    name="GetGasPrices",
    description="Get live gas prices across Ethereum, Base, Arbitrum",
    func=lambda: requests.get(
        "https://minia2a.uk/x402/gas", params={"wallet": WALLET}
    ).json()
)

OpenAI Agents SDK

import json, requests
from agents import Agent, function_tool

@function_tool
def get_gas_prices() -> str:
    """Get live Ethereum gas prices."""
    r = requests.get("https://minia2a.uk/x402/gas", params={"wallet": WALLET})
    return json.dumps(r.json())

agent = Agent(name="DeFi Researcher", tools=[get_gas_prices])

Next Steps

Resources: AGENTS.md · x402 Payment Guide · MCP Integration · GitHub Demo Repo

minia2a.uk — The Stripe for AI Agents. 174 services, USDC on Base, zero KYC.
Questions? Open an issue on GitHub.