What is AdRail?
AdRail is the payment layer for agent advertising. While protocols like AdCP handle media buying and ad serving, AdRail handles the money.
The Problem
Traditional advertising payments are broken:
- 90-day payment terms — Publishers wait months to get paid
- Hidden fees — 32-49% taken by intermediaries
- No transparency — Publishers don't know what advertisers actually pay
- Manual reconciliation — Disputes take weeks to resolve
- Not agent-ready — Existing systems can't handle machine-to-machine transactions
The Solution
AdRail provides:
- Instant payments — Publishers get paid as impressions are verified
- Transparent fees — 1% flat fee, fully visible on-chain
- Escrow security — Advertiser funds locked before campaigns start
- On-chain verification — Every payment verifiable on Base
- x402 native — Built for agent-to-agent commerce
How It Works
┌─────────────┐ ┌─────────────┐ ┌─────────────┐
│ Advertiser │ │ AdRail │ │ Publisher │
└──────┬──────┘ └──────┬──────┘ └──────┬──────┘
│ │ │
│ 1. Fund Escrow │ │
│ (USDC on Base) │ │
│──────────────────>│ │
│ │ │
│ │ 2. Serve Ads │
│ │<──────────────────│
│ │ │
│ │ 3. Report │
│ │ Impressions │
│ │<──────────────────│
│ │ │
│ │ 4. Verify & │
│ │ Pay (USDC) │
│ │──────────────────>│
│ │ │Key Concepts
| Concept | Description |
|---|---|
| Publisher | Site or agent that displays ads and earns revenue |
| Advertiser | Company buying ad impressions |
| Escrow | Locked USDC funds for a campaign |
| Impression | A single ad view, reported in batches |
| Settlement | USDC transfer from escrow to publisher |
Built On
- x402 — HTTP-native payment protocol
- USDC — Stable, liquid, widely accepted
- Base — Fast, cheap, Coinbase-backed L2
- AdCP — Ad Context Protocol for media buying
Next Steps
- Getting Started — Set up your account
- Quick Start — Make your first API call
- API Reference — Full endpoint documentation