TL;DR
- Solana logged 518,400 x402 stablecoin payments on Sunday, edging Base at 505,000 and marking the first lead shift between the two networks.
- The margin was 13,400 transactions, small in absolute terms but big as a signal that payment automation traffic can rotate quickly.
- With more than 1,023,000 combined payments in a single day, the metric turns stablecoin usage into a throughput race that will be watched into the next sessions.
Solana just edged past Base in x402 on-chain activity, a metric described as automated stablecoin transactions. On Sunday, Solana recorded 518,400 payments while Base logged 505,000, marking the first time Solana has led on this measure. Solana’s brief lead over Base shows how quickly automated stablecoin traffic can rotate. For traders and builders watching payment rails, the crossover landed as an unexpected, data-first headline. The margin is slim, but the optics are sharp: one network topped the chart, and the other suddenly had to explain second place publicly.
What this x402 flip suggests for stablecoin payment rails
That slim margin equals 13,400 payments, yet it still turns into a meaningful signal when the underlying activity is automated. With 1,023,400 combined payments in the same snapshot, x402 is producing a daily number that teams can actually track. A measurable throughput contest is emerging, and it is being scored in stablecoin payments. It also creates a KPI that can be benchmarked day to day, without relying on anecdotes or one-off screenshots. For anyone building payout workflows, the question becomes where the next wave of routable demand is forming.
The flip also highlights how programmatic flows can create sudden leadership changes without a marketing campaign. Automation sends traffic where integrations are live and where execution feels predictable, so small shifts can compound fast. When payments are automated, reliability becomes the growth lever that quietly decides winners. That puts pressure on providers to keep error rates low, handle spikes smoothly, and communicate incidents in plain language for users and counterparties. For operators, it translates into dashboards, alerting, and capacity planning, because high-frequency payments leave little room for manual intervention.
What happens next will matter more than the first headline. If Solana repeats the lead, the narrative hardens into momentum; if Base regains first place, it becomes a tug-of-war instead of a turning point. The next prints will show whether this was a one-day anomaly or the start of a new baseline. Stakeholders will watch whether totals keep rising and whether the lead widens beyond a rounding error. Either way, the takeaway is pragmatic: stablecoin automation is now visible enough to be measured, compared, and acted on.
