Vitalik proposes ZK payment standard to drive Ethereum privacy payments and AI agent transactions

Odaily Planet Daily News Vitalik Buterin published a research article on May 10, proposing to replace traditional on-chain transfer solutions with zero-knowledge proof (ZK) transactions, pushing crypto payments from "pseudonymity" toward "privacy by default." This solution allows users to complete payment verification without disclosing their full balance and transaction history.

Vitalik specifically mentioned that in the era of AI agents, autonomous AI agents need to pay for services such as LLM APIs without leaving traceable footprints. He stated that through recursive SNARKs and a ZK API credit mechanism, Ethereum Layer 2 can achieve private payments at speeds and costs close to those of transparent transactions.

Additionally, the proposal includes selective disclosure and "proof of innocence" mechanisms, allowing users to provide compliance proof to regulators or tax authorities without revealing on-chain privacy data, thereby meeting anti-money laundering requirements. Vitalik believes that the transparent and public nature of blockchain is a major obstacle to the widespread adoption of crypto payments.