This article is contributed and does not represent ChainCatcher's perspective, nor does it constitute investment advice
We are pleased to announce that Zypher Network has completed a $7 million funding round to advance our development of a decentralized trust infrastructure for AI agents. The round was co-led by UOB Risk Management and Signum Capital, with participation from multiple institutions including HashKey Capital, Hong Leong Group, Cogitent Ventures, Catcher VC, Hydrogenesis Labs, and DWF Ventures.
Autonomous Agents Have Arrived, But Can We Trust Them?
From OpenAI's Operator to Nvidia's Eureka, we have witnessed a historic transformation in the software domain: autonomous agents capable of independent thinking, reasoning, and action. These systems are being widely deployed in finance, supply chain, legal, and infrastructure sectors. By 2035, agent systems are expected to drive an economic scale of $250-350 billion, reshaping the "on-demand services" industry worth over $10 trillion.
However, autonomous governance without accountability is a dangerous proposition. Current agent systems are like opaque black boxes, with unverifiable behaviors and inaccessible logic. In sensitive environments, this lack of transparency poses survival risks—from financial decision-making errors to privacy leaks and regulatory non-compliance.
The internet in the 1990s faced a similar crisis. Without encryption or endpoint verification, trust was extremely fragile. Subsequently, SSL emerged as a standardized layer for secure communication. We believe that current agent systems are experiencing their SSL moment—cryptographically verifiable systems will become foundational. Zypher Network is building this trust layer for AI.
Our Story: From Verifiable Applications to Agentic Infrastructure
Zypher originated in 2023, with a founding team spread across Hong Kong and Silicon Valley, initially developing the first verifiable applications based on ZK co-processors, including on-chain reasoning engines, compliance circuits, and award-winning fully on-chain games. These early products attracted over 1 million on-chain participants, demonstrating the potential of real-time proof-driven computation.
But we looked to the future. We asked ourselves: What are the most urgent and impactful applications in the next decade? The answer was clear—AI agents. Large language model-based systems are evolving into autonomous actors, but lack a cryptographic framework for accountability. We locked onto this mission, transforming into verifiable AI infrastructure and formally launching Zypher Network to develop a zero-knowledge protocol suite for agent trust. In 2025, we expanded this vision through a $7 million funding round, supported by investors who recognize our long-term philosophy.
Challenges: Trust Barriers in Decentralized AI
AI's development outpaces its governance institutions and frameworks. Agents are executing workflows in finance, healthcare, legal services, and logistics, but most systems lack visibility and auditability. Since 2023, large language model-based AI agents have reshaped the computational paradigm, enabling complex task execution with minimal supervision.
A 2024 industry survey showed that 65% of enterprises adopting AI agents prioritize trust and safety, with financial and asset management sectors facing the highest risks. Without decentralized solutions, enterprises rely on centralized systems, creating single points of failure and contradicting Web3 principles. Zypher guarantees agent behavior through cryptography, providing the following verification capabilities:
- Exact system prompts or instructions received.
- Generated outputs or reasoning results.
- Results transmitted faithfully without modification.
This achieves verifiable autonomy—agents can be accountable to systems and users while maintaining independence.
Our Infrastructure: End-to-End Verifiability for Autonomous AI
Zypher's architecture combines a modular zero-knowledge protocol stack with Zytron, a performance rollup optimized for real-time decentralized AI agent verification.
●ZKP-Based Trust Solution
Our open-source ZKP protocols ensure AI prompts and reasoning are tamper-proof and privacy-preserving. Our flagship solution "Prompt Proof" (zkPrompt) is a breakthrough innovation. Inspired by zkTLS, zkPrompt uses a Prover-Proxy-LLM architecture to verify AI outputs.
- Prover generates ZK proof confirming agent response integrity.
- Agent signature mechanism supports on-chain verification.
Compared to frameworks like ezkl, zkPrompt reduces proof generation time by up to 40%, suitable for real-time applications.
For example, DeFi protocols can use zkPrompt to prove agent portfolio management decisions comply with predefined strategies without revealing the strategy. In asset management, zkPrompt ensures compliance while protecting sensitive data.
Our ZKP suite also includes reasoning verification and model integrity protocols, providing a comprehensive trust layer for AI. We embed these in an open-source RESTful API, allowing developers to seamlessly integrate trust features for both Web3 native tools and enterprise solutions.
●Zytron Rollup
Zytron is our dedicated rollup infrastructure, serving as a Layer 2 solution for the BNB chain, optimized for AI workloads with high throughput, low latency, and robust security. Compatible with RISC-V architecture, Zytron supports modular integration with various AI frameworks, from large language models to specialized models.
Zytron's key components include:
- Distributed Proof Protocol: Based on a "Verifiable Work Proof" mechanism, enabling a decentralized network of nodes ("Provers") to compute ZK proofs, ensuring computational integrity. Unlike high-energy proof-of-work, our system prioritizes efficiency and fairly distributes rewards.
- Computational Resource Integration: Zytron connects distributed computing resources, supporting AI model hosting, sharing, inference, and fine-tuning, providing developers access to scalable infrastructure.
- API and Proof Layer: Offers an API layer for seamless model access and a proof layer for verifying computation, ensuring privacy and resistance to censorship.
Zytron addresses scalability challenges by simultaneously processing thousands of proofs, avoiding traditional blockchain bottlenecks. For instance, payment systems can use our API for near-real-time verification of AI-driven transactions under high demand. Leveraging BNB chain's security, Zytron guarantees tamper-proof verification, establishing trust for high-risk AI applications.
●More About Prompt Proof: zk-TLS-Like Protocol
zkPrompt, Zypher's flagship protocol inspired by zkTLS, uses a lightweight zk circuit system to prove LLM agent output integrity. It introduces four roles:
- User: Initiates request.
- Prover: Processes transmission and delivers proof.
- Agent: Relays data and signs ciphertext.
- LLM Provider: Generates agent response.
To prevent tampering, zkPrompt uses agent-based signature verification and efficient ZK decryption correctness proof. Provers must demonstrate that returned plaintext matches agent signature and original LLM provider generation.
The system supports two modes:
- Public mode: Prompt and response data on-chain.
- Private mode: Only hash commitments recorded, protecting privacy.
Compared to ezkl, zkPrompt is optimized for real-time verification, suitable for minute-level proof generation for GPT-like models, with extremely low overhead.
●AI Security Browser: SSL Moment for Everyday Users
For ordinary users, we designed an AI Security Browser—a user-friendly real-time monitoring tool bringing cryptographic integrity directly to the application layer. Just as lock icons and HTTPS standards established trust in early internet browsers, the AI Security Browser makes verifiability visible and accessible to end-users.
The browser serves as a security overlay on any AI interface, providing:
- Proof-based trust indicators: Each agent interaction includes a visual marker showing whether its output is cryptographically verified via zkPrompt against the original prompt.
- Anomaly alerts: Detects tampered outputs, unauthorized queries, or unverified completions, immediately prompting users.
- Verifiable interaction logs: Users can explore agent interaction history, viewing response generation time, method, and conditions, all supported by zero-knowledge proofs.
- Privacy-first operations: Users have complete control over information disclosure. For sensitive use cases, users can publish proof commitments without revealing prompt content.
To make trust participatory, the browser integrates our proof mining incentive layer:
- Users earn GEM points and collect Non-Fungible Tokens by verifying agent outputs.
- Active participants collectively build trust by flagging anomalies, verifying cryptographic claims, and strengthening decentralized AI security.
In essence, the AI Security Browser is the SSL for autonomous agents at the user level: an integrity foundation that brings transparency to previously invisible systems, empowering every user from DAO contributors to legal teams and financial operators with real-time assurance.
Combining our developer stack, the AI security browser has completed Zypher's full-stack trust layer vision for verifiable AI, enabling system creators and consumers to operate safely and confidently.
●Our Roadmap: Expanding AI Trust
This $7 million funding drives our ambitious roadmap:
- Team Expansion: Expanding engineering and research teams in Hong Kong, Silicon Valley, and globally, driving cutting-edge cryptography and AI innovation.
- Infrastructure Upgrade: Optimizing Zytron rollup and ZKP protocols to support large-scale AI deployment, improve proof generation efficiency, and enhance model compatibility.
- Developer and Ecosystem Growth: Launching new incentive programs and tools to empower developers to use our API and zkPrompt suite across DeFi, customer support, and robotics.
- Token Launch Preparation: Preparing for token launch based on strong ecosystem attractiveness to further incentivize participation and decentralization.
- Deepening Protocol Integration: Our trust layer has been integrated with leading protocols, enhancing cross-chain interoperability and developer experience.
Our vision is to make Zypher the cornerstone of trusted AI in Web3, where developers can create applications comparable to centralized systems while maintaining decentralization principles.
●Our Community: The Core of Zypher
Our community is our greatest asset. Currently, over 1 million on-chain participants have joined our journey through ecosystem programs, API testing, and collaborative activities.
This momentum is also due to our growing network of strategic partners. Zypher's trust layer has been integrated with leading protocols such as Eliza OS, Mira Network, io.Net, Nexus, Risc Zero, EigenLayer, Particle Network, Fermah, Polyhedra, and ZeroBase, paving the way for interoperability, developer onboarding, and real-world use cases. We are proud to collaborate with the most forward-thinking protocols and developers in Web3. The community has always been at the core of our mission: making AI trustworthy, transparent, and verifiable for everyone.
In the coming months, we will launch large-scale social and proof mining activities to incentivize decentralized agent verification. These initiatives have already attracted early participation from key agent providers in the network.
About Zypher Network
Zypher Network is a decentralized trust platform that enables verifiable autonomous AI agents through zero-knowledge protocols and dedicated rollup infrastructure Zytron. Operating in Hong Kong and Silicon Valley, Zypher empowers developers and enterprises to build secure, scalable AI systems for Web3 native and real-world applications.
