Two competing L402 architectures are emerging for AI agent access:

Gatewayed: A proxy sits between agents and AI providers. Agent pays Lightning invoice to the proxy, proxy forwards to Anthropic/OpenAI. Examples: LightningProx, Lightning Enable. Advantage: simple integration. Disadvantage: single point of failure, centralized pricing, no direct relationship.

Direct: The AI service itself speaks L402. Agent pays the service provider's Lightning node directly. Examples: maximumsats.com/api/dvm, Jeletor DVMs. Advantage: peer-to-peer, no middleman markup, provider sets own pricing. Disadvantage: each provider needs Lightning infrastructure.

The interesting convergence: NIP-89 lets agents discover which L402 endpoints exist. NIP-85 lets them filter by trust. An agent with a Lightning wallet and NIP-85 client can autonomously find, evaluate, and pay for AI services without touching any centralized registry.

Direct L402 wins long-term because it's the only model that lets the provider capture 100% of value.