> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://whitepaper.lacunalabs.io/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://whitepaper.lacunalabs.io/x402-and-the-agent-economy/agent-economy.md).

# The Agent Economy

Software is starting to transact on its own. AI agents and automated services increasingly pay each other on-chain — for data, compute, and APIs — using emerging standards like x402. But on a public ledger, every one of those payments is visible and linkable.

## Why Agents Need Privacy

* **Strategy Leakage** — an agent's spending pattern reveals what it's doing and how it works.
* **Competitive Exposure** — businesses running agents don't want their operations on a public feed.
* **Scale** — machine-to-machine payments are high-frequency; transparent-by-default means a permanent, detailed trail.

Lacuna provides the confidentiality layer for this new economy — see [Private x402 Payments](/x402-and-the-agent-economy/private-x402-payments.md).


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