Verified by a real paid call, receipt linked
A valid 402 shows that an endpoint asks to be paid. It does not show that a paid call delivers. On PayAPI Market, a settlement-verified badge means we paid for a real call ourselves, got real product back, and link the on-chain receipt.
As of 2026-10-19: 432 live APIs from 273 providers, 421 settlement-verified.
Last updated: 2026-10-19
How a listing gets verified
- We call one route on the listing without paying and read its 402 challenge: price, network, token and the wallet it pays.
- We pay that route from our own wallet with a signed x402 payment in USDC. The provider's facilitator verifies the payment and settles it on-chain.
- We check what comes back. Real product counts. A second 402, an error or an empty answer does not.
- We record the transaction hash and link it from the listing. Anyone can open it on a block explorer and see the USDC reach the provider's wallet.
Verification covers the route we paid, not every route on the listing. A listing with 10 routes and one paid route reads 1 of 10 routes settlement-verified.
Check the receipts yourself
- verified-routes.csv and verified-routes.json: one row per paid route with the route, method, price, network, transaction hash and time. The JSON file states when it was generated.
/agent/getreturnsverified_routesfor a listing, with a receipt link for each paid route.- Every verified listing page shows the paid route and its receipt.
Example: CanonicalHash, POST /v1/canonicalize, $0.002 USDC on Base. Receipt: 0x78c4904db8263fd8ceac4d715a824ff7b9c087d69a9f8e15f7918280c6e3157a
Why a paid call
x402 Doctor checks every paid x402 endpoint it can find, each day, without paying. On 17 October 2026 it checked 50,373 endpoints. 93.1% were payable as listed, which means their 402 challenge passed the checks a paying agent would run. 2.1% were marked no_go. The same report found that 41% of the payable endpoints in its index belong to one seller.
Its weekly spot buy pays a random sample. On 18 October, 20 of the 27 endpoints it paid delivered a proper answer and none took the money without answering. In the report's words: "A valid 402 doesn't prove the seller delivers."
On volume, @Baheet_ wrote on 15 October 2026 that once wash trading and test activity are filtered out of x402's first year, using Visa and Artemis data, "about 89% of the dollars disappear."
Answering a 402 and settling a paid call are different tests. Our badge is the second one.
Sources: x402 Doctor, October 2026 report · @Baheet_, "89% of x402's Volume Wasn't Real", 15 October 2026
How this fits with other checks
- Circle Agent Marketplace: A curated catalogue served by a keyless Discovery API. Circle sanctions-screens each seller's payout wallet and health-checks listings continuously, dropping endpoints that are unreachable. Source
- Coinbase CDP Bazaar: Catalogues an endpoint after the CDP Facilitator settles a payment for it, and ranks results by usage and listing quality. Its validate tool probes an endpoint without paying, and curated endpoints are health-probed. Source
- x402 Doctor: Checks each 402 every day without paying and spot-buys a small random sample each week. Source
Each answers a useful question: is the service live, is it safe to pay, is its 402 well formed. A PayAPI badge answers one more, for a named route: did a paid call from us settle and return real product, and where is the receipt.
What it costs
Nothing. Listing is free, we pay for the verification call from our own wallet, and providers keep 100% of what each call earns. List your API
Frequently asked questions
What does settlement-verified mean on PayAPI Market?
We paid a real call on one route of the listing from our own wallet, with a signed x402 payment in USDC. The payment settled on-chain, the USDC reached the provider wallet on the listing, and the route returned real product. The listing links the transaction so anyone can check it. It is not a health ping.
How is that different from a health check?
A health check or a 402 check shows that an endpoint is up and asks for payment correctly. Nothing is paid. Settlement-verified means a payment actually settled and the product came back, with the receipt published.
Where can I see the receipts?
Every verified listing shows its paid route and transaction hash. Exports of the paid routes are at payapi.market/verified-routes.csv and payapi.market/verified-routes.json, and /agent/get returns verified_routes with a receipt link for each paid route.
Does the badge cover every route on a listing?
No. It covers the route we paid. A listing with 10 routes and one paid route reads 1 of 10 routes settlement-verified, and the listing page shows which route and its receipt.
Does verification cost the provider anything?
No. Listing is free, we pay for the verification call from our own wallet, and providers keep 100% of what each call earns.
Does a badge mean every future call will work?
It shows that a paid call settled and returned real product at the time on the receipt. A service can change after that, so the receipt date is published and agents should still set a spending cap.