Cloudflare Launches Wallets for AI Agents: Why Stablecoins Have Already Won

Cloudflare opened reservations for future wallet identifiers on August 4, allowing AI agents to pay for the services they consume themselves. Each API call and data access will be settled in stablecoins, for just a few cents. Visa, Mastercard, and Stripe have backed the standard that makes these payments possible, even though it has only processed $15 million since its launch.

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AI Agents Want to Buy Services for a Few Cents

Cloudflare handles about one-fifth of global internet traffic. The company acts as an intermediary between visitors and websites, filtering attacks and delivering pages from the nearest server. This positioning places it between AI agents and the services they query.

An AI agent can execute a task end-to-end without needing human validation at every step. To compare prices, conduct a search, or produce a summary, it continuously queries services that charge for each request.

Currently, it cannot do this alone. It encounters a login page designed for humans, must wait for someone to add a payment method, and then generate an access key.

Cloudflare observes that, in practice, AI agents often abandon this step and return the task to their owner.

The problem arises from the very low amounts of these transactions. Cloudflare cites examples of web searches charged a few cents per call or other services sold for less than a dollar per use.

At such low amounts, card networks reach their limits. Fixed fees quickly exceed the price of the service, and settlement times become disproportionate. Collecting ends up costing more than the amount collected.

Stablecoins solve this problem. They allow transferring a few cents in seconds, with fees low enough to make these payments viable.

An AI agent can thus test dozens of services before selecting one, without opening any accounts. Cloudflare estimates that a budget of $10 is sufficient to evaluate a large number of them.

However, it is essential to enable these agents to have their own payment method.

AIs Will Be Able to Pay Independently, Within Limits Set by Their Owners

The announcement on August 4 only opens reservations for identifiers on cloudflare.pay. The storage of stablecoins, payments, and receipt of funds will arrive soon, with no announced date.

Cloudflare plans a main wallet for the user, as well as a separate wallet for each AI agent they create. For each agent, its owner defines a budget, the services it can access, and the maximum amount it is allowed to spend.

These payments will rely on x402, a standard designed to integrate payment directly into a web request.

When an AI agent requests access to a paid service, the server indicates the amount to be paid as well as the accepted stablecoin. Once the payment is received, the service becomes immediately accessible.

On July 1st, Cloudflare announced its Monetization Gateway, which will allow websites, APIs, and online services to automatically charge for access to their content or data. The company's clients can sign up for a waiting list, with no launch date communicated.

The wallets announced on August 4th complete the system. The first part will allow sellers to charge for their services without human intervention. The second will give AI agents the means to settle them.

$15 million exchanged, and Visa has already signed {#h-15-millions-de-dollars-echanges-et-visa-a-deja-signe}

Visa and Artemis published the first independent measure of this market in July 2026.

Between the launch of x402 in May 2025 and April 21, 2026, the standard processed approximately $15 million spread over 109.6 million transactions, averaging 14 cents per payment.

The network already gathers 422,000 buyers for about 5,300 sellers. According to the study by Visa and Artemis, the payments observed so far are mainly made in USDC, on Base, Solana, and Polygon. The market remains tiny, but it is already functioning.

However, the list of members tells a different story. Visa, Mastercard, Stripe, Google, Circle, and Ripple are among the 40 organizations that now lead x402 within the Linux Foundation.

Visa and Mastercard are thus participating in the construction of a standard designed for payments that their own networks cannot process profitably.

Cloudflare has not yet indicated which stablecoins or networks will be selected for its own service.

Stablecoins Find a New Use {#h-les-stablecoins-trouvent-une-nouvelle-utilite-nbsp}

Cloudflare, Visa, and Google are preparing stablecoin payments for AI agents. Companies that have never touched crypto are getting ready to use it every day.

Most investors keep some aside, between two positions, waiting for a better moment to enter. This idle money can work on DeFi protocols and earn during the wait.

This is exactly what the Club 25% documents, a private club of 150 investors who manage their savings in stablecoins via DeFi, with a goal of 15 to 25% per year, without trading, without volatility, dedicating only a few hours per quarter.

How it works in practice:

• A public portfolio of $100,000 managed in real-time: all decisions are documented and explained.
• Analyzed and audited DeFi opportunities: you follow step-by-step video guides to invest in protocols selected for their robustness.
• Total sovereignty over your funds: you remain in control of your capital, with no third party having access to your wallet.

👉 Discover the Club 25% Method {#h-decouvrir-la-methode-du-club-25}

The volume processed by x402 still represents only about fifteen million dollars. If these uses become widespread, stablecoins could become the natural means of payment for AI agents purchasing data, APIs, and services on the Internet.