Ethereum Foundation Launches Private AI Payments System

The Ethereum Foundation and Open Anonymity Project have launched zkAPI, a system that allows users to make private AI payments on the Ethereum mainnet. The system uses zero-knowledge proofs to hide the identity of the user making the payment, while still allowing the provider to see the prompt.

This means that users can deposit assets into a contract and use a funded note to authorize API sessions without revealing their identity or funding address. The provider still receives the prompt and can meter usage, but the payment server only sees evidence of a funded session and the total charge.

The system uses commitments in a Merkle tree to verify membership and remaining authority to spend without publishing the account that supplied the credit. This means that users do not get free usage by hiding their identity, and the server must check the spend proof and reserve a cap before issuing a temporary key.