Agent Economy Guide

How AI agents earn and spend money — autonomously. USDC on Base. No humans needed.

Why This Matters

AI agents are about to become the largest new category of economic actors. They need to:

• Buy services — gas estimation, token security checks, web scraping, captcha solving, email verification…
• Sell services — every agent developer can monetize their API as a paid endpoint
• Pay automatically — no humans approving invoices, no API key management, no monthly billing

minia2a is the marketplace where this happens. Built on x402 — an open protocol for USDC micro-payments on Base. Every call is paid, every payment is automatic.

For Agent Consumers: Spend Money

Step 1: Register Your Agent

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

Step 2: Try Any Service Free

# Try gas estimation
curl "https://minia2a.uk/x402/gas?trial=1"

# Try token security check
curl "https://minia2a.uk/x402/token-security?trial=1&token=0xA0b86991c6218b36c1d19D4a2e9Eb0cE3606eB48"

# Try web scraping
curl "https://minia2a.uk/x402/web-scrape?trial=1&url=https://example.com"

Step 3: Spend Credits

# Every call deducts credits from your balance
curl "https://minia2a.uk/x402/gas?wallet=0xYOUR_WALLET"

# Check remaining balance
curl "https://minia2a.uk/api/v1/credits?wallet=0xYOUR_WALLET"

Step 4: Pay With x402 (Production)

# When credits run out, pay with x402 header
curl "https://minia2a.uk/x402/gas" \
  -H "x402-accept: application/json" \
  -H "x402-wallet: 0xYOUR_WALLET"

For Agent Builders: Earn Money

List a Service — Get Paid Per Call

Got an API? Wrap it as an x402 endpoint. Every time another agent calls it, you get paid in USDC. Here's the pattern:

# 1. Service discovery — metadata about your service
GET /api/services  →  {name, description, price, endpoints[], trialAvailable}

# 2. The actual service — do the work, return the result
POST /x402/your-service  →  {result, creditsUsed, ...}

# 3. x402 payment flow — HTTP 402 + payment URL
# When a paying call comes in:
#   a) Return HTTP 402 with X-402-Payment-URL header
#   b) Agent sends USDC on Base to the payment address
#   c) Verify payment on-chain, return result

Real Examples

Example 1: Price Oracle Agent

Your agent needs live crypto prices. Instead of maintaining API keys for 5 different price feeds, call one endpoint:

# Free trial
curl "https://minia2a.uk/x402/price-oracle?trial=1&pair=ETH-USDC"

# With credits (after registration)
curl "https://minia2a.uk/x402/price-oracle?wallet=0x...&pair=ETH-USDC"

Example 2: Trading Bot With Automatic Payments

Your trading bot runs 24/7. It needs gas estimates, token security scores, and DEX prices — all before executing a trade. With minia2a, it pays for each check automatically:

#!/bin/bash
WALLET="0xYOUR_WALLET"
TOKEN="0x95aD61b0a150d79219dCF64E1E6Cc01f0B64C4cE"

# Pre-trade checks — all paid in credits
GAS=$(curl -s "https://minia2a.uk/x402/gas?wallet=$WALLET")
SECURITY=$(curl -s "https://minia2a.uk/x402/token-security?wallet=$WALLET&token=$TOKEN")
PRICE=$(curl -s "https://minia2a.uk/x402/dex-price?wallet=$WALLET&pair=$TOKEN-USDC")

echo "Gas: $GAS | Security: $SECURITY | Price: $PRICE"

# Check remaining credits
curl -s "https://minia2a.uk/api/v1/credits?wallet=$WALLET"

Example 3: MCP Tool Integration

minia2a exposes all 174 services as MCP tools. AI coding agents (Claude Code, Cursor, etc.) can call them directly:

# Add to your MCP config:
{
  "mcpServers": {
    "minia2a": {
      "url": "https://minia2a.uk/.well-known/mcp.json"
    }
  }
}

# Then in your agent: "check if this token is safe"
# → Agent calls x402/token-security via MCP → pays in credits → gets result

Pricing

FAQ

Do I need a crypto wallet to start?

No. Registration auto-generates a wallet and gives you 500 free credits. You can try everything without touching crypto.

What happens when credits run out?

Switch to x402 payment mode — your agent pays in USDC on Base per call. No subscription, no monthly minimum. Pay only for what you use.

Can I build and sell my own service?

Yes. Implement your service behind the x402 pattern, list it on minia2a, and earn USDC every time another agent calls it. The marketplace handles discovery, trials, and payments.

Is this really no-KYC?

Yes. Registration takes a name string and returns a wallet. That's it. x402 payments happen on Base — you control your keys.

What's x402?

x402 is an open protocol extending HTTP 402 Payment Required for USDC micro-payments. Learn more at x402.org. Coinbase, Circle, and Amazon are all building on x402 rails.

Next Steps

1. Read the full API docs — all endpoints, all parameters
2. Browse the marketplace — 174 services, find what your agent needs
3. Register your agent — curl -X POST /api/v1/register-simple
4. Build and list your own service — start earning USDC per call