zkAPI Project Research Dossier — Utility, Privacy Boundaries & Risk Review

2 Oct 2026 | Primary-source review

STATUS: Candidate only. Reviewed sources show no token or active sale but omit financing history. Quest “no public raise” eligibility is unverified; ask the mission reviewer.

WHAT IT BUILDS zkAPI aims to unlink an Ethereum deposit from API authorization: fund a private note, prove a capped session, get a short-lived key, then settle signed usage. It targets metered AI/RPC APIs. It does not hide prompts from providers or IP/timing metadata; proxy mode can see prompts.

TOKENOMICS / LONG GAME No verified token, price, supply, float, allocation, vesting or emissions found; FDV/dilution cannot be modeled. ETH/USDC API credits are payment collateral, not equity. Upside needs provider integrations and a useful anonymity set; weak adoption leaves complex ZK infrastructure while metadata may still identify users.

VERIFICATION / RISKS EF says mainnet-live and names Open Anonymity as builder; code is public. The repo calls the protocol experimental, says setup is single-party, and E2E tests mock provider/oracle—no proof of production correctness or independent audit. EF describes USDC credits; current README says native ETH. Verify contract, asset, release tag/client, setup, constraints and escape paths before deposits. Adoption and unit economics are unknown.

VIEW Watchlist for utility, not a token thesis. Code and announced deployment are positive; maturity, asset mismatch, security and adoption remain unresolved. Do not deposit until provenance/security are checked.

DISCLOSURE: I plan to buy or sell (direction/timing unstated), am in Legion Quest III seeking VP, and report no compensation, gifts, advisory/partnership, airdrop, discount or other zkAPI/Open Anonymity benefit. Not investment, legal or tax advice.

Primary-source links follow below.

PRIMARY-SOURCE LINKS + EVIDENCE NOTES

[S1] Ethereum Foundation, “Introducing zkAPI” (1 Oct 2026): https://blog.ethereum.org/2026/10/01/introducing-zkapi — architecture, privacy boundary, announced mainnet status, USDC-credit description, named collaboration.

[S2] Ethereum Research, “ZK API Usage Credits: LLMs and Beyond” (11 Feb 2026): https://ethresear.ch/t/zk-api-usage-credits-llms-and-beyond/24104 — earlier design proposal; do not assume every proposal detail is in current code.

[S3] Ethereum’s public repository: https://github.com/ethereum/zkapi — README, source, tests and deployment instructions; current docs describe native-ETH funding, experimental status, single-party setup and mocked provider/oracle E2E tests.

[S4] Official product docs: https://zkapi.openanonymity.ai/

The reviewed public materials are not financing-history disclosure. That is why “no public raise” eligibility remains unresolved. The USDC-vs-ETH discrepancy is a release-provenance question, not proof either page is wrong.