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

Odaily Odaily reports that Vitalik Buterin published a research article on May 10, proposing to replace traditional on-chain transfer schemes with zero-knowledge proof (ZK) transactions, pushing crypto payments from "pseudonymity" towards "privacy by default." This scheme 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 like LLM APIs without leaving traceable footprints. He stated that, through recursive SNARKs and ZK API credit mechanisms, Ethereum Layer 2 can enable private payments at speeds and costs close to transparent transactions.

Furthermore, the proposal also includes selective disclosure and "proof of innocence" mechanisms, allowing users to provide compliance proof to regulators or tax agencies without revealing on-chain private data, in order to meet anti-money laundering requirements. Vitalik believes that the public and transparent nature of blockchain is a significant barrier to the mass adoption of crypto payments.