Cloudflare announced the launch of NET Dollar, a U.S. dollar–backed stablecoin intended for use within the emerging agentic web, where autonomous artificial intelligence agents perform tasks such as booking travel or executing commerce activities. The token leverages Cloudflare's global network to enable near-instantaneous settlement, fractional payments, and programmable transaction capabilities tailored to software agents and developers.
NET Dollar issuance is backed by a reserve of short-dated U.S. Treasury bills and high-grade commercial paper, audited monthly by an independent accounting firm. Stablecoin holders will access a Cloudflare SDK to integrate pay-per-use functionality directly into web applications, smart contracts, and AI toolchains, eliminating reliance on centralized payment processors.
CEO Matthew Prince described NET Dollar as a core component in Cloudflare's vision of an open Internet economy driven by value creation rather than advertising revenue. By embedding stablecoin payments into serverless functions, edge compute tasks, and API calls, developers gain a new monetization model that aligns economic incentives with original content and services.
Cloudflare contributed to the development of the Agent Payments Protocol and x402 standard, aiming to establish interoperable frameworks for microtransactions across diverse blockchain networks. The company also formed strategic partnerships with major decentralized finance platforms to enable liquidity provisioning, lending, and staking services for NET Dollar holders.
Use cases for NET Dollar include automated procurement workflows, subscription management for AI-powered analytics, and real-time royalties distribution for digital content. Cloudflare projects that stablecoin transaction volumes could surpass $200 billion within two years, driven by adoption among decentralized application ecosystems and enterprise API integrations.
The announcement positions Cloudflare among leading technology and payments firms exploring stablecoin innovations. Competing initiatives include proprietary blockchain solutions by payment processor Stripe and tokenization services offered by major financial institutions. Cloudflare's leverage of existing global edge infrastructure aims to differentiate by offering network-native payment validation and fraud mitigation.
The NET Dollar launch highlights an evolving digital commerce landscape, where programmable money interacts at machine speed. As AI agents increasingly handle routine transactions, stablecoin protocols optimized for micropayment efficiency are expected to underpin next-generation internet business models.
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