Cloudflare Unveils NET Dollar: A Revolutionary Business Model for AI-Driven Internet Solutions

Cloudflare Unveils ‘NET Dollar‘ Stablecoin to power the Future of the Agentic Web

San francisco, CA – September 25, 2025 – Cloudflare, Inc. today announced the introduction of NET Dollar, a new stablecoin pegged to the U.S. dollar. This digital currency is specifically engineered to enable rapid,secure transactions within the increasingly prominent agentic web,signaling a significant shift in the financial infrastructure of the Internet.

The Rise of the Agentic Web and the Need for Modernized Finance

Artificial Intelligence is profoundly altering how Individuals Interact with the Web. Rather than directly managing every online action, People are increasingly delegating tasks-such as booking travel, managing schedules, and ordering goods-to autonomous AI agents. This evolution necessitates a corresponding advancement in the financial systems that underpin the internet. A Future driven by AI requires a financial system that offers speed, global accessibility, and robust security for seamless transactions between agents, developers, and creators.

“For decades, the Internet’s economic model has depended on advertising platforms and traditional bank transfers,” stated Matthew Prince, Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Cloudflare. “The next phase of the Internet’s evolution will be fueled by pay-per-use models, microtransactions, and fractional payments-mechanisms that prioritize original, valuable content.” Prince added, “Leveraging our extensive global network, we intend to modernize the financial infrastructure necessary for moving money at internet speed, fostering a more open and enriching Internet experience for everyone.”

NET Dollar: A Foundation for a Sustainable Internet Economy

Cloudflare, a globally recognized company known for its performance acceleration, website security, and application advancement solutions, now aims to revolutionize online transactions. NET Dollar is designed as an internet-native payment system, offering a fast, secure, and universally accessible alternative to traditional financial methods. The company views stablecoins as a crucial component-alongside existing financial networks-for supporting the growth of the AI-driven internet, prioritizing trust, speed, and interoperability.

NET Dollar is designed to modernize the payment ecosystem for the agentic web by:

• Global Payment Accessibility: Providing a system to facilitate payments that are rapid, secure, and reliable on a global scale, accommodating various currencies, regions, and time zones.
• Automated Transactions: Enabling AI agents to execute instant, programmatic actions, such as securing the lowest flight prices or automatically ordering items upon sale, along with automated supplier payments upon delivery confirmation for businesses.
• New Internet Business Models: Empowering creators with rewards for original content,allowing developers to easily monetize their APIs and applications,and enabling AI companies to fairly compensate content sources.

Collaboration and Open Standards

Cloudflare is actively collaborating on open standards like the Agent Payments Protocol and x402 to streamline the process of sending and receiving payments on the Internet.

Interested developers, creators, and AI innovators can find more information at netdollar.cloudflare.com.

Understanding Stablecoins and the Agentic Web

Stablecoins, like NET Dollar, are cryptocurrencies designed to maintain a stable value relative to a specific asset, typically the U.S. dollar. This stability is crucial for everyday transactions, addressing the volatility often associated with other cryptocurrencies. The agentic web represents a future were AI agents act on our behalf, requiring secure and efficient methods for handling financial transactions. According to a recent report by Gartner, the use of AI agents is expected to grow by 30% annually over the next five years, driving demand for these types of financial solutions.

Feature	Traditional finance	NET Dollar (Stablecoin)
Transaction Speed	Days	Instant
Global Accessibility	Limited	Worldwide
Transaction Fees	High	Low
Automation	Manual Processes	Fully Automated

Did You Know? The stablecoin market has seen significant growth in recent years, reaching a market capitalization of over $150 billion in 2024, according to CoinGecko.

Pro Tip: When evaluating stablecoins, consider factors such as the backing asset, the issuing entity’s reputation, and the smart contract audit results to ensure security and reliability.

Frequently Asked Questions about NET Dollar

What are your thoughts on the role of stablecoins in the future of the internet? How might AI agents change the way we interact with online services?

Share your insights and help us build a more informed discussion about the future of finance and artificial intelligence.

How does NET Dollar’s revenue-sharing model differ from the subscription-based model of traditional cost management tools?

Understanding the Shift: From Traditional Cloud Spending to NET Dollar

Cloudflare’s recent announcement of NET Dollar marks a important departure from conventional cloud computing pricing models. Traditionally,businesses have faced escalating cloud costs,often exceeding initial projections. This is largely due to complex billing structures, unpredictable usage spikes, and the inherent challenges of optimizing cloud spend. NET Dollar aims to address these pain points by aligning Cloudflare’s incentives directly with its customers’ success – specifically, their savings on existing cloud infrastructure. This new model focuses on delivering tangible value through AI-powered optimization,rather than simply selling compute resources. Key terms related to this shift include cloud cost optimization, cloud spend management, and infrastructure efficiency.

How NET Dollar Works: AI-Powered Savings as Currency

At its core,NET Dollar is a revenue-sharing model. Cloudflare leverages its advanced AI and machine learning capabilities to identify and implement optimizations across a customer’s existing cloud infrastructure – regardless of the provider (AWS, Azure, Google Cloud, etc.). These optimizations can include:

* Traffic Optimization: Intelligent routing and caching to reduce bandwidth costs.

* Compute Optimization: Right-sizing instances and leveraging serverless functions.

* Storage Optimization: Tiered storage and data lifecycle management.

* Database Optimization: Query optimization and indexing improvements.

The savings generated through these optimizations are then shared between Cloudflare and the customer. Cloudflare receives a percentage of the savings as revenue, while the customer retains the majority. This creates a win-win scenario where Cloudflare is incentivized to maximize savings for its clients.This differs significantly from traditional cloud service pricing models.

The Technology Behind NET Dollar: Cloudflare’s AI Engine

Cloudflare’s AI engine is the driving force behind NET Dollar. It continuously analyzes a customer’s cloud environment, identifying areas for improvement.This isn’t a one-time assessment; it’s an ongoing process of monitoring, analysis, and optimization. The engine utilizes:

* Real-time Monitoring: Constant tracking of resource utilization and performance metrics.

* Predictive Analytics: Forecasting future resource needs to proactively optimize spending.

* Automated Remediation: Automatically implementing optimizations without manual intervention.

* Anomaly Detection: Identifying unusual spending patterns and potential cost leaks.

This technology builds upon Cloudflare’s existing strengths in content delivery networks (CDNs), DDoS protection, and web request firewalls (WAFs), extending its value proposition beyond security and performance.

Benefits of Adopting NET Dollar

The benefits of adopting NET Dollar are multifaceted:

* Reduced Cloud Costs: The primary benefit – significant savings on existing cloud infrastructure.

* Improved ROI: Maximizing the return on investment in cloud services.

* Simplified Cloud Management: Cloudflare handles the complexities of optimization, freeing up internal IT resources.

* Vendor Agnostic: Works with any cloud provider, offering versatility and avoiding vendor lock-in. This is a key advantage over solutions tied to specific cloud providers.

* Continuous Optimization: Ongoing monitoring and optimization ensure sustained savings.

* Enhanced Performance: Optimizations often led to improved application performance and user experience.

NET Dollar vs.Traditional Cloud Cost Management tools

While numerous cloud cost management tools exist, NET Dollar distinguishes itself through its revenue-sharing model and proactive, AI-driven optimization. Traditional tools typically provide visibility into cloud spending, but require customers to implement optimizations themselves. NET Dollar takes a more hands-on approach,actively managing and optimizing infrastructure on behalf of the customer. Consider these key differences:

Feature	Traditional Cost Management Tools	Cloudflare NET Dollar
Optimization Approach	Reactive – provides insights,requires manual action	proactive – automated optimization
Revenue Model	Subscription-based	Revenue-sharing (based on savings)
Vendor Lock-in	Frequently enough tied to specific cloud providers	Vendor agnostic
AI/ML Integration	Varies	Core component

Real-World Applications and Potential Use Cases

NET Dollar is applicable across a wide range of industries and use cases:

* E-commerce: optimizing infrastructure to handle peak traffic during sales events.

* Financial Services: Reducing costs associated with high