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Ethereum Foundation introduces zkAPI for private API payment credits

The October 1 announcement describes a live Ethereum payment system that separates API spending from billing identity, while leaving content and network privacy as separate problems.

2 min read
Published by Mertiva Original source publication
A frosted glass screen separates a blank payment token from a metal connector.
Conceptual editorial illustration, not a photograph of the reported event.

Key facts

  • Zero-knowledge proofs authorize bounded API usage.
  • The provider can still see request content.
  • The project repository labels the protocol experimental.

Separating payment from requests

The Ethereum Foundation introduced zkAPI on October 1, saying the system was live on Ethereum mainnet. Built with Open Anonymity, it uses private credits and zero-knowledge proofs to authorize metered API use without revealing which deposit funded a session.

In the runtime-key arrangement described by the Foundation, short-lived credentials limit spending while requests travel directly to the provider. The privacy claim concerns the payment connection. Providers still receive the request contents, and IP addresses or timing can expose relationships between sessions. A simpler relay mode has different visibility because the intermediary handles traffic.

What the available implementation means

The official repository includes a local client and a browser SDK, giving developers concrete integration paths rather than only a research proposal. It describes on-chain withdrawals of unused balances and marks the protocol experimental.

The repository also warns that interfaces may change during its pre-1.0 releases. That matters for applications deciding whether to depend on it: implementation availability does not establish production maturity or eliminate contract and integration risks. For readers, the useful distinction is between hiding a funding link and hiding the substance of a conversation. Those are separate protections, and zkAPI’s announcement does not collapse them into a single anonymity guarantee.

Primary sources

Reporting is based on the linked primary sources. Company statements are attributed to their authors; they are not independent test results.

  1. Ethereum Foundation — Introducing zkAPI: private usage credits for any API
  2. Ethereum / Open Anonymity — Official zkAPI repository and implementation notes

Source links checked 16 Oct 2026

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