Virtuals Protocol and t54 announced that they are bringing “dealer trading” to the XRP Ledger, a move that will allow AI agents to transact locally using escrow functions, assessor-based verification, and programmable settlement.
The announcement was delivered through coordinated posts from Virtuals, t54 and RippleX rather than a standalone, visual press release. Virtuals via X wrote:
“Virtuals support agent commerce on XRPL. Over $95B in cumulative transaction volume. 75+ regulatory licenses across global markets. Ledger built from day one of payments extends to agent commerce. Together with t54, Virtuals provides the commerce infrastructure for agents to transact locally on XRPL.”
While RippleX only commented: “Agent trading is coming,” t54 added: “Agent trading is coming to XRPL. With Virtuals, agents can transact autonomously: guaranteed functionality, verification through residents, programmable settlement. And with the t54 x402 facilitator, agents can actually pay locally in XRP and RLUSD.”
AI agents can now pay in XRP and RLUSD
Under the hood, the design is clearly divided across two layers. Virtuals brings the trade logic through its Proxy Commerce Protocol, or ACP. t54 offers the payment path through its x402 facilitator, which its documentation describes as an infrastructure that “verifies and settles pre-signed payment transactions” so that the API can charge per order “without API keys, custodial wallets, or custom payment glue.” In the same set of documentation, t54 shows support for XRP payments and IOU-style assets, including RLUSD.
This is important because x402 is not just a product name within this ad. Coinbase describes x402 as an open payment protocol built on the passive HTTP 402 “Payment Required” status code, designed to allow APIs, websites, and autonomous proxies to programmatically pay for access via standard web requests.
In practice, this means that an agent can access a paid endpoint, receive payment requirements, sign a transaction, have the facilitator submit it and settle it on the ledger without the old account and session model that most API monetization still relies on.
The role of Virtuals is to give these payments a business workflow rather than the initial transfer. In its white paper, the protocol describes ACP as a framework for “secure, transparent and verifiable commerce between autonomous AI agents.”
The mechanics align closely with RippleX’s brief on
t54 is making a broader institutional case for this market since its February seed round, which included strategic participation from Ripple and Virtuals Ventures. At the time, founder Chandler Fang said current financial pipelines were built around human actors and now needed “agent-native financial primitives” like verifiable identity, real-time risk assessment, and programmable accountability.
At press time, XRP was trading at $1.44.
Featured image created with DALL.E, a chart from TradingView.com
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