The Ethereum Foundation launched zkAPI on October 1, 2026, a system that allows users to pay for AI models and metered APIs without revealing their billing identities

Overview Debates Related claims Topics Sources

StarkWare introduced its STRK20 privacy framework on June 9, 2026, providing zero-knowledge shielded balances, private transfers, and viewing keys for auditing ERC-20 assets on Starknet.

When withdrawing from a Starknet Shadow Account, funds return to shielded STRK20 balances using zero-knowledge proofs managed by a Starknet wallet

StarkWare introduced the STRK20 framework on June 9, 2026, providing shielded balances and private transfers for supported ERC-20 assets on Starknet.

Starknet wallets handle zero-knowledge proof generation and shielded balance data during Shadow Account operations without requiring developers to access users' viewing keys.

Starknet already utilizes hash-based STARK proofs and native account abstraction, enabling accounts to adopt post-quantum signatures without requiring a protocol upgrade

As an Ethereum layer 2, Starknet bundles transactions and relies on the underlying Ethereum base layer for security validation

Starknet's cryptographic proofs rely on hash functions, which are considered essential quantum-resistant building blocks, though Starknet outlined plans on June 30, 2026 to replace remaining elliptic-curve components

The Ethereum Foundation established a dedicated post-quantum research team in January 2026, with researcher Justin Drake noting accelerating development timelines

The Ethereum Foundation and Vitalik Buterin actively encouraged the creation of L2s as a scaling strategy

The Ethereum Economic Zone's demonstration transaction moved 0.001 Ether, worth approximately $2.70, and updated a rollup state in a single all-or-nothing operation confirmed in block 26,127,444 for a fee of about $0.80.

The Ethereum Economic Zone framework utilizes Zisk's zero-knowledge proving technology, uses Ether as its default gas token, and does not introduce a new native token.

The Ethereum Economic Zone was publicly introduced on March 29, 2026, at the EthCC conference in Cannes, developed by Gnosis and Zisk with co-funding from the Ethereum Foundation.

The Ethereum Economic Zone's core software is in an early-stage, unaudited phase, with full bidirectional composability, nested cross-chain calls, and real-time zero-knowledge proving on the roadmap through 2027.

Gnosis Chain should delay its EEZ transition until real-time zero-knowledge proving is ready

Abstract launched its mainnet in January 2025 as a ZK-rollup network focused on consumer crypto applications

A zkAPI gateway operated by the Ethereum Foundation validates zero-knowledge proofs and issues temporary API keys with predetermined spending caps, allowing users to interact directly with AI providers

The Open Anonymity Project integrated zkAPI as a payment option within its OA chat application.

The Ethereum Foundation launched zkAPI on the Ethereum mainnet on October 1, 2026, to enable anonymous payments for AI models and metered APIs.

Traditional AI API interactions embed user identity into every request by linking API keys directly to user accounts and payment instruments, allowing providers to build comprehensive behavioral profiles.

To prevent double-spending, zkAPI publishes a unique cryptographic identifier called a nullifier for each transaction, which exposes duplicate spending attempts while maintaining user anonymity.