Cloudflare opens waitlist for Monetization Gateway using x402 protocol. Developers can charge for web content and API calls, targeting sub-second stablecoin settlement for AI agent payments.
Cloudflare has opened the waitlist for Monetization Gateway, a product that lets developers charge for web pages, datasets, APIs, and MCP tools.
The internet infrastructure company said payments will settle in stablecoins through the x402 protocol. The protocol uses the HTTP 402 "Payment Required" status code. A client requests a paid resource. The server returns a price and payment instructions. The client pays and sends the request again with proof of payment.
Cloudflare said the process runs at the edge, before a request reaches the origin server. It requires no checkout page or separate payment API. The company aims for sub-second settlement. Sellers receive stablecoins directly in their wallets or can redeem for fiat. Buyers access paid resources with no signup or API key required. No prior relationship is necessary, Cloudflare said.
Cloudflare framed the launch around a shift in web traffic from people to AI agents. Agents do not view ads or manage subscriptions the same way humans do. They may need to pay for a single data feed, search, API call, or tool request. The gateway lets developers set access rules per page, API route, dataset, or tool. It supports usage-based pricing, such as per-API-request charges or variable prices for compute-heavy tasks. Developers can charge only unauthenticated users, for example.
The product follows work between Cloudflare and Coinbase. The two launched the x402 Foundation to promote real-time stablecoin payments for AI agents, apps, and businesses. Crypto.news reported that Amazon's Bedrock AgentCore integrated Coinbase x402 so agents can pay with USDC on Base without human input. Solana and Google Cloud also launched Pay.sh, a stablecoin gateway for per-request AI agent payments, according to the same report.
The x402 protocol is open. Any developer can implement it without licensing fees, Cloudflare and Coinbase said.
Cloudflare's product remains in waitlist mode. Full public use has not started. The company said customers will manage rules through the dashboard or the Cloudflare API. Terraform support is also planned. Cloudflare's network handles a large portion of global web traffic, the company has said.
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