Vitalik Buterin: The AI era needs crypto privacy mechanisms to protect API access patterns Vitalik Buterin stated that in the context of the growing prevalence of AI agents, crypto privacy technology is crucial for safeguarding users' API call patterns and behavioral data. He pointed out that even when using local AI agents, if external services can see all search or API call records, they can still infer the activities users are engaged in. Vitalik believes that an initial solution could involve forwarding requests through a mixnet to hide the source of access. However, service providers might require anti-abuse mechanisms and pay-per-call models to counter DoS attacks. In reality, these payment methods often rely on credit cards or stablecoin systems that lack privacy protection. Therefore, he emphasized the need for privacy-preserving crypto payment solutions. He further noted that privacy protection needs to be considered from a **full stack** perspective, with the local AI agent layer being particularly critical. Vitalik likened this to the issue of healthy lifespan: if there are multiple harmful factors, addressing them one by one can bring cumulative benefits. Similarly, measures to reduce data leakage risks can produce a comparable compounding effect.