On February 12 this year, a company called Lightning Labs announced the launch of a set of open-source tools that enable artificial intelligence (AI) agents to pay, collect, and authenticate using Bitcoin (BTC) without using cards, bank accounts, or traditional API keys (digital keys typically used to access online services).
Lightning Labs has shown that their tool allows agents. You offer a paid service and another agent uses it. They propose the Lightning Network (LN), Bitcoin’s Layer 2 (L2) network designed for high-speed micropayments, as a programmatic payments infrastructure for an automated economy powered by AI agents. With Lightning, payments clear in the background without human intervention.
One of Lightning Labs’ goals is to Large-scale machine-to-machine transactionsagents pay a few cents or thousandths of a dollar for data, computing power, or digital resources.
Autonomous agents can perform complex tasks, but because they don’t have identities or bank accounts, they can’t operate within traditional financial systems, said Michael Levin, author of the Lightning Labs paper.
What can agents do with Lightning?
Package contains tools for agents Run a lightning nodemanage your credentials and automatically pay for your digital services.
The technical core is the L402 standard. This is an authentication scheme created by Lightning Labs that reuses the HTTP 402 (“Payment Required”) code to Require payment before accessing resources.
This works like automatic tolls on the Internet. When an agent attempts to access an L402-protected application programming interface (API), the web service provided by the API responds with a 402 HTTP code (“Payment Required”). Along with Lightning Invoicesas shown by Levin.
agent Pay that bill and receive encrypted proof of paymentexplains Levin. This test acts as an access credential. No prior registration, username, or API key is required. Payments replace ID as the authentication mechanism.
This model also allows for monetization «Endpoint» (Access point to data or service) Pay-as-you-go.
Levin said developers can turn the API into a service that automatically charges per query, paying in 1-cent increments with Lightning, without integrating banks or third-party processors.
Unlike the usual model where many services sell closed packages (for example, $10 for 1,000 queries), this scheme allows you to pay exactly per request. In other words, Accurate microcobra according to actual use, There are no upfront payments or monthly plans.
lget was launched to make these payments. Customers pay their bills automatically with Lightning When the service responds with a 402 code (“Payment Required”). The agent does not perform any manual steps. lget detects the invoice, makes the payment, and repeats the already authorized request.
Operationally, lget can connect to LND nodes (one of the most widely used programs for working with Lightning nodes) and use lightweight mode for testing. This means that agents need access to nodes with liquidity and active channels, shifting technical complexity to operators.
Security and spending limits
Giving agents financial access comes with risks. To reduce risk, Lightning Labs has incorporated a remote signature scheme, a private key that controls funds. stored on another device Not on the agent’s machine. Once a system is compromised, keys cannot be extracted.
Additionally, you can issue restricted credentials (seeMacaron“) its limitations What agents can do and how much they can spend. Developers can approve only payments, only approve invoices, and set budget limits. The purpose is to enforce the principle of least privilege.
As reported by CriptoNoticias, other efforts are already looking into integrating AI agents with Bitcoin, Lightning, and Nostr protocols. Enable payments and reconciliation without intermediaries. Lightning Labs’ announcement aims to reinforce that trend and unify financial infrastructure for automated machine-to-machine trading.