Cloudflare unveils NET Dollar stablecoin to power AI agent web

Cloudflare has announced plans to introduce NET Dollar, a U.S. dollar-backed stablecoin designed to facilitate instant and secure transactions across the emerging agentic web.

The announcement comes as the web transitions to a model increasingly shaped by artificial intelligence, where autonomous agents execute tasks such as booking flights, ordering groceries, and managing schedules without direct human intervention. As these AI-driven interactions proliferate, the underlying systems for financial transactions are expected to evolve in tandem.

Cloudflare has operated globally for 15 years, focusing on web traffic and network security. With NET Dollar, the company seeks to bring similar reliability and reach to financial transactions performed by or on behalf of AI agents, developers, and content creators. The development supports a move towards microtransactions and fractional payment models, potentially offering creators and developers new ways to earn income online.

Business model shifts

Matthew Prince, Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Cloudflare, commented on the company's objectives with NET Dollar:

"For decades, the business model of the Internet ran on ad platforms and bank transfers. The Internet's next business model will be powered by pay-per-use, fractional payments, and microtransactions-tools that shift incentives toward original, creative content that actually adds value. By using our global network, we are going to help modernize the financial rails needed to move money at the speed of the Internet, helping to create a more open and valuable Internet for everyone," said Matthew Prince, co-founder and CEO of Cloudflare. 

NET Dollar is intended to enable a new type of Internet economy, supporting instant, global, secure, and automated payments. The stablecoin will be backed by the U.S. dollar and is designed to operate across borders and currencies, allowing AI agents to carry out transactions at any time and from any location. This is anticipated to assist creators in being recognised and compensated for their content, developers in more easily monetising APIs and applications, and AI companies in providing equitable payments for the content sources that power their systems.

Supporting the agentic web

The company outlined several use cases for NET Dollar that align with the agentic web's needs. For example, personal AI agents may be programmed to pay for services such as flights or goods the moment they become available. For businesses, autonomous agents could automatically settle invoices upon delivery confirmation, streamlining operational processes.

Cloudflare also emphasised that making payments seamless and trusted anywhere in the world will require systems that offer transparency, reliability, and global scale. As Cloudflare puts it, agents will need "payments that are not only fast and secure, but also trusted, recorded transparently, and executed reliably at a global scale - across currencies, geographies, and time zones."

Open standards and collaboration

In addition to its work on NET Dollar, Cloudflare has partnered with Coinbase to develop open standards for online payments, including the 402 "payment required" response standard. This collaboration aims to simplify payment requests and receipts on the web, which Cloudflare says is a crucial step towards making the Internet payment-friendly for both humans and AI agents.

The company is also contributing to initiatives like the Agent Payments Protocol and x402, which further the goal of standardising the way payments are initiated and processed by autonomous systems.

Wider ambitions

With the introduction of NET Dollar, Cloudflare aims to provide what it describes as an "Internet-native payment system that is fast, secure, and globally accessible". The company views stablecoin technology as complementary to existing financial systems, offering added speed, trust, and interoperability for the AI-driven era.

Cloudflare has made it clear that it intends to allow developers, creators, and AI companies to participate in shaping how the next chapter of the Internet unfolds, particularly as the agentic web increases in prevalence.