Why donations matter for privacy tools (and how crypto helps)

Most "free" products are not actually free.

They are paid for with:

• ads
• data
• profiling
• or VC money that eventually demands growth at any cost

zkChat is different on purpose.

No ads, no tracking, no accounts

To keep zkChat truly zero-knowledge:

• There are no ad pixels
• There is no Google Analytics or similar trackers
• There are no user accounts to monetize later

That also means:

• There is no hidden business model in the background
• Server and bandwidth costs are not magically covered by some big corporation

What donations are used for

When you send crypto to zkChat donation addresses, it goes into:

• Infrastructure — WebSocket relay, HTTP API, storage, domain, TLS certificates
• Abuse protection — rate limiting, basic DDoS protection, keeping bad actors out without logging everyone
• Development time — improving UX, fixing edge cases, adding new zero-knowledge tools

No money is used for ads or shady growth hacks.

Why crypto and not traditional payment providers

Privacy tools should not depend on traditional payment rails that can be frozen, censored or deanonymized.

zkChat accepts donations in multiple privacy-focused and widely-used cryptocurrencies:

• Monero (XMR) — the most privacy-focused cryptocurrency with built-in anonymity
• Zcash (ZEC) — shielded transactions for enhanced privacy
• Bitcoin (BTC) — borderless, censorship-resistant, programmable money
• Ethereum (ETH) — also supports all ERC20 tokens on the Ethereum network
• Solana (SOL) — fast and low-fee transactions

These currencies fit the spirit of zkChat much better than a credit card form that requires personal information.

If zkChat is useful to you

If zkChat:

• helps you share something sensitive
• simplifies your threat model
• or just gives you some peace of mind

consider sending a small donation in any of the supported currencies.

It's the cleanest way to keep this project:

• independent
• privacy-first
• sustainably online