Cloudflare Unveils U.S. Dollar Stablecoin for AI-Powered Internet Economy

U. S.-listed cloud company Cloudflare (NET) announced plans to intorduve a ￰0￱ stablecoin for what it calls the "agentic web," where autonomous AI agents perform tasks like booking flights or ordering ￰1￱ company said on Thursday that the token, dubbed NET Dollar, will enable instant and secure transactions for software agents, developers and ￰2￱ framed the initiative as a shift away from the ad-driven economics that have defined the internet for decades. "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," Matthew Prince, co-founder and CEO of Cloudflare, said in a statement.

"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," he ￰3￱ firm said itis also contributing to standards such as the Agent Payments Protocol and x402, which aim to make sending and receiving payments online ￰4￱ the move, Cloudflare aims to join a roster of fintechs and payments firms that ventured into the red-hot stablecoin trend that's shaking up cross-border ￰5￱ cryptocurrencies, with prices tied to fait money like the U. S. dollar, offer a cheaper, faster alternative to traditional payment rails using blockchains for ￰6￱ example, Stripe is building its own blockchain , Tempo, for stablecoin transactions and acquired stablecoin infrastructure provider Bridge for $1.1 billion.

It's potentially a huge market: stablecoin transaction volumes could reach $1 trillion by 2030, driven by institutional adoption, FX settlement and cross-border flows, trading firm Keyrock projected in a report.