Shielded NanopaymentsFor Autonomous AI Agents

When autonomous AI agents pay for inference or data using public blockchain transactions, their wallet permanently logs every model call and trade secret. ArcNano is building private, compliant, sub-cent micropayments via native X402 on the Arc Network.

The Problem We Are Solving Flowchart Demo Roadmap (Coming Soon)GitHub X (@0xarcnano)

// SETTLEMENT LAYER

Arc Network (Circle)

Permissioned L1 Cohort

// GAS ENGINE

Circle Gas Station

Native USDC Paymaster

// SETTLEMENT FINALITY

< 500ms Deterministic

Sub-second certainty

// PRIVACY MECHANISM

Groth16 + Privacy Pools

Opt-in OFAC compliance

Protocol Architecture

01 // Protocol Blueprint

Specification & Circuit Phase

Phase 1

Shielded Note Deposit

Agent commits fixed-tier USDC notes into a Poseidon Merkle tree on Arc, creating a uniform anonymity set.

Phase 2

X402 Challenge

Agent queries an AI inference API and receives an automated X402 challenge with root parameters.

Phase 3

Off-Chain Groth16 Proof

Agent proves note membership and ASP non-sanctioned compliance off-chain in memory without signing a tx.

Phase 4

Receiver Arc Settlement

Gateway verifies instantly and settles aggregated batches on Arc using Circle Gas Station sponsorship.

Core Cryptographic Guarantee

The spender never broadcasts an on-chain transaction. msg.sender linkability is mathematically eliminated.

Read Technical Breakdown →

X402 Protocol•Zero msg.sender Leakage•Receiver-Batched Settlement•Arc Circle Gas Station•Privacy Pools ASP Checks•Poseidon Merkle Vault•Sub-Cent Machine Micropayments•Autonomous AI Agent Swarms•Arc Network Ecosystem•Two-Stage Verification•X402 Protocol•Zero msg.sender Leakage•Receiver-Batched Settlement•Arc Circle Gas Station•Privacy Pools ASP Checks•Poseidon Merkle Vault•Sub-Cent Machine Micropayments•Autonomous AI Agent Swarms•Arc Network Ecosystem•Two-Stage Verification•

02 // Threat Model & Traps

Why Existing Machine Payments Fail for AI Agents

Paying for autonomous compute and LLM tools with public blockchain transactions creates 4 fatal traps.

Public ledgers dox AI agents

Standard crypto payments permanently log every prompt, tool call, and model supplier to block explorers for competitors to copy.

Naive ZK still leaks the signer

Even with a ZK proof, if the agent signs the transaction on-chain, its wallet address is broadcast to every node in the network.

Mixers are blocked by enterprise APIs

Traditional mixers pool dirty and clean funds together, causing AI gateways, AWS, and Cloudflare to automatically blacklist them.

Block times & gas kill nanopayments

Waiting 10–15 seconds for a block stalls real-time agent loops, while gas fees cost 10x more than a $0.001 inference call.

03 // Architectural Resolution

How ArcNano Solves Every Trap

We architected ArcNano from first principles to decouple payments from identity, guarantee legal compliance, and deliver instant sub-second verification.

Architecture Pillar 01 // Architecture Pillar 01

Traceability

Receiver-Batched Settlement

Eliminating the Payer's msg.sender

Solves Trap 01: msg.sender Surveillance

In ArcNano, the spending agent never broadcasts an on-chain transaction. Instead, it generates a Groth16 proof locally in memory and embeds it in the X402 request header.

•

The client proves knowledge of a secret deposit note commitment without disclosing its nullifier or secret key.

•

The API receiver collects valid proofs and aggregates them into a single batchSpend() transaction broadcasted on Arc.

Execution FlowAutonomous Pipeline

agent

Agent

Local ZK Proof

gateway

X402 Header

X-PAYMENT

gateway

Receiver

Batch Aggregate

chain

Arc Chain

batchSpend()

Architecture Pillar 02 // Architecture Pillar 02

Native Gas

Arc Circle Gas Station Sponsorship

$0 Gas & Zero Funding Paper Trails

Solves Trap 02: Gas Funding Linkage

Normally, funding burner wallets with native gas tokens links them back to master accounts. ArcNano eliminates native gas through Circle Gas Station paymasters.

•

Settlement transactions on Arc are submitted via the Circle Gas Station (ERC-4337 Paymaster).

•

No native gas tokens are ever transferred to agent wallets, permanently closing the centralized exchange graph leak.

Execution FlowAutonomous Pipeline

agent

Agent Wallet

Zero Gas Needed

gateway

Circle Paymaster

Gas Sponsor

chain

Relayer

USDC Settle

chain

Arc Finality

No Graph Leak

Architecture Pillar 03 // Architecture Pillar 03

100%

Math-Clean

Association Set Provider Proofs

Compliance by Mathematics (Privacy Pools)

Solves Trap 03: Blacklist Sanctions

Inspired by the Privacy Pools standard, ArcNano uses dual Merkle membership circuits so legitimate agents prove clean origin without revealing their individual deposit leaf.

•

Enforces dual constraints: inclusion in the deposit Merkle tree, plus non-inclusion in the ASP sanctioned root.

•

Enterprise APIs verify compliance mathematically before fulfilling requests, remaining 100% compliant.

Execution FlowAutonomous Pipeline

math

Circom Circuit

Dual Merkle

math

Deposit Tree

ZK Member

math

ASP Root

Non-Sanctioned

gateway

API Gateway

Verified Clean

Architecture Pillar 04 // Architecture Pillar 04

< 10ms

Off-Chain Latency

Two-Stage X402 Verification

Sub-10ms Delivery + Periodic Batching

Solves Trap 04: Block Mining Latency

We decouple high-frequency API responses from on-chain block mining times through an in-memory two-stage verification architecture.

•

Stage 1: Gateway executes in-memory Groth16 pairing check and Redis nullifier cache in < 10ms for instant responses.

•

Stage 2: Gateway queues spent nullifiers and settles 50–100 transactions together in periodic batches on Arc.

Execution FlowAutonomous Pipeline

agent

Agent Query

X402 Request

gateway

Stage 1 (<10ms)

Pairing Check

agent

Instant 200 OK

Unblocked Stream

chain

Stage 2 (Async)

Batch Settle

ROADMAP

04 // Development Roadmap

Selected Milestones

Scroll down to navigate horizontally through active engineering phases, or click any card to inspect.

01 / 04

ZK Cryptography/HTTP X402/Spec RFC

// R.01

Completed

Formulated the two-stage X402 verification model, solved msg.sender leakage via receiver-batched settlement, and authored the foundational protocol specification.

MATH_SPEC.arcnanoSigner Traceability: 0%

01// 1. Note Commitment Generation
02commitment = Poseidon(0.01_USDC, secret, nullifier_seed)
03// 2. Off-chain X402 Header Delivery
04X-PAYMENT: { proof, nullifier, pool_root, recipient }
05// 3. Sub-8ms In-Memory Bilinear Pairing Check

Two-stage X402 verification model RFC

Poseidon shielded note commitment scheme

Active FocusExplore →

Architecture & Protocol SpecCompleted

Circom 2.1/Groth16/Privacy Pools

// R.02

Completed

Circom Circuits & Arc Testnet

Engineered the 20-level Poseidon Merkle tree inclusion circuit (spend.circom), ASP compliance verifier, and deployed ArcNanoPool on Arc Testnet (5042002).

Click to inspectExplore →

Circom Circuits & Arc TestnetSeptember 2026

Python SDK/AI Agent Toolchains/Middleware

// R.03

Coming Soon

Agent SDK & Gateway Tooling

Building client libraries for autonomous AI frameworks (LangChain, AutoGPT, CrewAI) and drop-in Express/Fastify X402 middleware for API providers to verify ZK proofs in single-digit milliseconds.

Click to inspectExplore →

Agent SDK & Gateway ToolingComing Soon

Circle Paymaster/ERC-4337/Live Pilot

// R.04

Coming Soon

Circle Gas Station & AI Pilot

Production integration with Arc's Circle Gas Station Paymaster for zero-gas settlement, followed by a live testnet pilot connecting autonomous AI agents to live inference providers.

Click to inspectExplore →

Circle Gas Station & AI PilotComing Soon

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