Cloudflare has entered a new phase in its bid to redefine how artificial intelligence interacts with money.
The company revealed plans for a sweeping collaboration with Visa, Mastercard, and American Express to create the foundation for what it calls the next evolution of digital trade – a world where AI agents act as independent economic participants.
Pioneering a Financial System for Machines
The initiative centers on Cloudflare’s newly developed Trusted Agent Protocol, a system designed to ensure that autonomous AI programs – from shopping bots to enterprise payment agents – can be verified before conducting transactions. Visa worked closely with Cloudflare to build the standard, while Mastercard and AmEx are integrating similar tools within their own frameworks.
Rather than relying solely on human authorization, these “trusted agents” would be authenticated automatically through Cloudflare’s network, enabling secure, machine-to-machine commerce at scale.
Building the Rails for Autonomous Payments
The partnership follows Cloudflare’s growing involvement in the payments space. The company has already revealed its intention to issue the NET Dollar, a stablecoin designed for automated digital transfers, and it recently joined forces with Coinbase to launch the x402 Foundation – a group focused on standardizing how AI entities send and receive value across different networks.
The vision behind this effort is known as agentic commerce – an emerging concept describing a future economy in which AI systems autonomously shop, negotiate, and pay for goods or services using digital assets and stablecoins as the medium of exchange.
Industry Momentum Behind the Concept
Cloudflare isn’t alone in preparing for that shift. Tech and payment heavyweights including Microsoft, Circle, Shopify, Adyen, Checkout.com, Webflow, and Worldpay have joined early development discussions to establish unified rules for verifying and securing these automated transactions.
“The next decade will be defined by AI systems that can make payments and decisions on their own,” said Stephanie Cohen, Cloudflare’s chief strategy officer. “Our role is to make sure they do so safely.”
From Crypto to AI-Driven Economies
The company’s broader strategy aligns with the growing convergence of AI and blockchain. As Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino recently suggested, the future could see billions of autonomous agents relying on digital currencies like Bitcoin or USDT to function. Cloudflare’s network aims to become the infrastructure that makes that vision possible – a global layer where intelligent agents can move value securely, instantly, and without human friction.
In essence, Cloudflare isn’t just adapting to the AI era – it’s designing the payment architecture that could power it.
