Quick breakdown
- Cloudflare launches NET Dollar as a U.S. dollar-backed stablecoin for AI-driven microtransactions.
- Built for the agentic web, the token aims to replace slow, costly legacy finance rails.
- Industry-wide push: Cloudflare joins Google and others in creating open protocols for AI-based payments.
Cloudflare introduces stablecoin for AI payments
Cloudflare has announced the launch of NET Dollar, a U.S. dollar-backed stablecoin designed to serve as the financial backbone of the emerging agentic web. The company revealed the project in a press release on September 25, framing the digital currency as a payment layer built for autonomous AI agents that will increasingly handle transactions at internet scale.
Addressing the limitations of legacy finance
According to Cloudflare, traditional banking systems and even earlier generations of cryptocurrency payments are too slow and expensive to meet the needs of machine-to-machine transactions. By leveraging its global infrastructure—already responsible for securing and accelerating a significant portion of internet traffic—the company aims to enable seamless, low-cost payments across multiple currencies, regions, and time zones.
“Our network is built to move information at internet speed, and now it will move money just as quickly,”
Cloudflare CEO and co-founder Matthew Prince said.
Enabling a pay-per-use internet
NET Dollar is envisioned as the foundation for a pay-per-use model in which AI agents handle automated, instant settlements. This includes use cases such as paying APIs for services like real-time flight bookings or compensating digital suppliers as swiftly as data is delivered. Cloudflare argues this approach represents a shift away from the ad-driven economy and slow financial rails that have long constrained online innovation.
Interoperability and industry momentum
The company emphasized interoperability, noting its contributions to open standards such as the Agent Payments Protocol and x402. Cloudflare’s strategy aligns with industry efforts from Google, which is developing its own Agentic Payments Protocol (AP2). Google recently showcased a demo with Coinbase and Lowe’s in which an AI agent managed an entire purchase flow—from consultation to payment using stablecoins—highlighting the potential of such systems.
Meanwhile, Cloudflare and Coinbase partnered to establish the x402 Foundation, a nonprofit dedicated to standardizing payments between machines over the internet. This effort seeks to simplify and secure autonomous transactions between devices, services, and applications.
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