zkAPI launched on Ethereum mainnet on October 1: it is a way to pay for API and AI requests without revealing who pays

The problem is that normal API payment links every request to your account. Here you deposit credits once into storage on Ethereum, and then with a zero-knowledge proof you receive a limited right of use: the service sees that the payment is valid, but does not see who paid. For a coin holder this gives no yield and requires no action, only a new privacy tool; it does not hide IP, request timing, or what you write in the requests themselves.

You can try it in OA Chat, a private browser based AI chat with no install, or run a local gateway from the repository github.com/ethereum/zkapi. Contracts on Sepolia allow testing with test funds.

Facts

Ethereum Foundation blog: zkAPI allows paying for API use based on usage volume without revealing identity. Credits are deposited into storage on Ethereum, then use is authorized by zero-knowledge proofs. The solution already works on mainnet. [blog.ethereum.org, October 1, 2026]
This is a working implementation of the "ZK API usage credits" design by Davida Krapis and Vitalik Buterin. The Open Anonymity team helped build the client, server and contracts. [blog.ethereum.org, October 1, 2026]
The blog authors acknowledge limitations: a gateway can link requests from a persistent IP (they advise Tor), and repeated personal details and text style in requests allow sessions to be linked. [blog.ethereum.org, October 1, 2026]
The launch was first reported by the AggrNews feed with a link to the blog. [@AggrNews, October 1, 2026]
According to the WuBlockchain retelling, zkAPI issues short lived keys with limits for OpenAI-compatible and Ollama interfaces. Billing is based on actual usage, funds are held by a smart contract, withdrawal is possible independently. Current use is mainly AI inference, with RPC, VPN and other services possible. [@wublockchain12, October 1, 2026]

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