[Ethereum Foundation Launches zkAPI to Enable Anonymous AI API Payments] BlockBeats News, October 2nd, according to official sources, the Ethereum Foundation has announced the joint development of zkAPI with the Open Anonymity Project, which is now live on the Ethereum mainnet. zkAPI uses zero-knowledge proofs to separate payments from identity. Users only need to deposit assets such as ETH or USDC into a vault contract on Ethereum once, after which they can authorize AI API usage limits without revealing their identity. Service providers can see the request content but cannot determine the payer's identity, while payment processors can only see the payment amount without linking it to specific requests or users. The operational mechanism of zkAPI involves the user's device generating a proof to verify that sufficient funds exist to cover the transaction and that the funds have not been previously used. After server verification, a temporary API key with a usage limit and expiration date is generated. Users can then use this key to send requests directly to AI service providers. The service providers record the actual usage and generate a signed receipt, and the system ultimately deducts the fees from the user's private balance based on actual usage. The Ethereum network only records on-chain operations such as deposits, settlements, and withdrawals, without revealing which services the funds were used to pay for. This solution employs cryptographic technologies such as Groth16, BN254, Poseidon, and Merkle trees, and allows users to directly withdraw funds from the blockchain in case the server goes offline. The Ethereum Foundation stated that zkAPI is initially targeted at AI inference scenarios, as the prompts submitted by users to AI models may involve sensitive information such as health or financial data. However, this mechanism can also be applied to other pay-per-use scenarios, such as blockchain RPC, image, and video generation. [Original Link]