Lightning Labs launched pi402, allowing AI entities to pay reasoning fees with Bitcoin

According to Crypto Briefing, Lightning Labs released the open-source extension pi402 on November 12, enabling AI programming agents to use Bitcoin to pay for their reasoning fees via the Lightning Network. This tool is specifically built for Pi programming agents and does not require account registration, API keys, or credit cards; agents can resume work by paying invoices after seeing the prices.

pi402 is based on the L402 protocol, combining the HTTP 402 "Payment Required" response with Lightning Network invoices, allowing for instant settlement after payment by the agent. This implements a token-based billing model, where agents pay based on actual consumption. Sellers can accept payments through the Aperture and Lightmeter tools, and neither party needs to run a Lightning node; payments are processed by the Ark-based Wavelength wallet. The demonstration price is approximately $0.375 per million input tokens and $1.5 per million output tokens.