Author: Cloudflare

Translation: Shenchao TechFlow

Shenchao Guide: The biggest friction point in the AI Agent era - "To proxy and call the API, you still need to find a human to add a credit card," Cloudflare's solution is here. It allows Agents to freely trial hundreds of APIs (each costing a few cents) while also setting spending limits for each AI. Stablecoin micropayments + human-readable identity, merchants for the first time know who is behind this Agent, and whether they can offer trial discounts.

Today, trying out new APIs with AI Agents is very challenging. They need to navigate login pages designed for humans, contact humans to add payment methods, generate API keys, and then figure out how to call the API.

To solve this problem, we created Cloudflare Wallets. Starting today, you can register a Cloudflare Wallet address for your account, obtaining a unique username that helps you better connect with merchants. Soon, you will be able to set up and use Cloudflare Wallet to pay for APIs and content.

Earlier this month, we launched the Monetization Gateway to help Cloudflare customers generate revenue through their websites and applications. The Monetization Gateway will support micropayments using the x402 protocol, allowing payments to be attached to HTTP requests. These micropayments can be used for various purposes such as AI inference, data, and content. If you want to pay or receive payments through the Monetization Gateway and other x402 compatible endpoints, you will need a wallet.

Cloudflare Wallets allow you to store stablecoins, purchase services, and receive funds across the network. Each account with a wallet can also create virtual wallets for its Agents, enabling Agents to purchase APIs, MCP tools, content, and more. You can define guardrails for virtual wallets (e.g., limits, whitelists, and maximum transaction sizes) to help your Agents safely spend funds in your account. This will enable your Agents to try out many APIs in a low-friction and controlled risk manner. Wallet users can choose to share their Cloudflare Wallet addresses to obtain a stable identity while interacting with merchants.

Building a Bilateral Agent Marketplace

The Monetization Gateway from Cloudflare will allow eligible Cloudflare customers to sell resources (such as content or APIs) to Agent buyers in a headless manner. However, for this marketplace to truly develop, Agents need more tools to purchase from merchants in a machine-native way. Wallets will add another tool to Cloudflare's Agents SDK, enabling AI Agents to easily use micropayments to buy the APIs and content they need.

There are two types of Cloudflare Wallets: Account Wallets and Virtual Wallets.

Account Wallets are designed for owners and users of Cloudflare accounts. They can add funds, delegate spending to virtual wallets managed by Agents, and withdraw funds as needed.

In contrast, Virtual Wallets are designed for Agents and run through API keys. Within the virtual wallet, Agents can spend funds based on their permissions. Their maximum spending will be subject to the limits set by the account wallet owner. This framework allows Agents to act freely on behalf of users without ongoing manual approval while limiting the capability for the Agent to overspend.

Figure: Diagram of Cloudflare Wallet Account Wallet and Virtual Wallet structure. Source: Cloudflare

The Freedom to Explore

Virtual wallets are exciting because they will allow Agents to do what they do best: explore dozens or hundreds of services to find the best options for specific use cases. With stablecoin micropayments via x402, it will be easy to trial APIs without needing an account, allowing Agents to test new options with very low friction. The spending limits on virtual wallets are designed so that humans can let Agents autonomously explore within safe spending limits. These limits may seem restrictive, but paradoxically, they give Agents more freedom. If an Agent is responsible for 10 dollars, you will worry less about its spending than if it is responsible for 1000 dollars. If a trial for an API only costs a few cents, then 10 dollars is sufficient to try out and evaluate many options.

Once you or your Agent select the API to use, the policies you set in the account wallet will serve as cost control for the virtual wallet. Want to give each employee a weekly budget of 100 dollars for AI inference? Simply configure an account wallet, set the correct balance, and then create virtual wallets for each employee with that rule. Anyone exceeding the limits of the virtual wallet can request manual overrides from a human who has the authority to change the account wallet.

We want to make it possible for account wallets to set flexible yet strict spending policies without needing to actively monitor every day. When anomalous situations occur, such as unexpected rapid spending, humans will be able to review and confirm if everything is operating as expected. If the spending is intentional, the account wallet administrator can increase limits or approve one-time injections of funds. If the spending was unintentional, the spending policy for adding funds to the virtual wallet worked by imposing limits.

We are striving to make the recharge and use of these wallets as simple as possible. We will start with straightforward deposit and withdrawal methods in supported regions, where eligible users can choose to recharge themselves using stablecoins. The internet won't transform completely overnight, but as a large portion of the traffic on the web is now driven by bots, we are excited to provide top-notch tools for Agents and merchants in Agent business.

Not Just Payments

Allowing humans to delegate permissions to Agents for easy buying and selling of services is a useful starting point. But this delegation is not always apparent to merchants interacting with Agents. Today, if an Agent comes to your website, you might know very little about it as a user, even though the Agent is acting on behalf of an individual or organization. This lack of attribution challenges many traditional online business models. Offering a free trial or signup credits for a week to humans or organizations is easy. Providing the same offers to Agents lacking stable identities is difficult, especially when one person can control dozens of Agents.

We solve this problem by linking wallets to Cloudflare accounts through cloudflare.pay. cloudflare.pay will allow Agents to selectively identify themselves, as their identity is a delegation from the account. A research Agent could be located at research.example.cloudflare.pay, letting merchants know it is an Agent from a specific organization. This approach will allow Agents to maintain consistent and persistent identities, providing a better experience for all parties. The choice of whether to declare their identity will be completely optional for Agents, with businesses deciding whether to prioritize transactions with known Agents.

Agent Identifiers Should Be Human-Readable

We believe that handling Agents will be similar to handling VPNs: if someone is unverified, they are not inherently untrustworthy, but require more proof of identity. That’s why we launched Turnstile and other bot detection initiatives in Bot Management. Our identity primitives will be built on this previous work. For instance, Web Bot Auth has already allowed agents to register their identities through key pairs. IDs attached to Cloudflare Wallets make this key pair human-readable.

We know that the standards for Agent identities are rapidly changing, so we want to keep the approach simple. We propose providing human-readable identifiers for a complex key pair, similar to the pairing of URLs and IP addresses used in DNS. We do not intend to define specific patterns or other validation systems. We just want to make identities easy to remember and assert. As the initiatives from the x402 foundation develop rich patterns for Agent identities, we will seek to adopt them and aim to encourage others to do the same.

The Future of Agent Business

At Cloudflare, we aim to provide all the building blocks for the success of Agent business. The Monetization Gateway will provide sellers a way to receive payments without setting up traditional payment infrastructure. Wallets will give buyers a way to make headless payments through Agents. Identity will allow merchants to communicate with buyers who assert their identity or carry out identity verification requirements.

All these building blocks will create a headless marketplace for the internet. If you are interested and want to participate, you can claim your account now. We look forward to seeing the content you build and monetize.