Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin unveiled an experimental "paranoid mode" for his AI agent on October 16 to obscure users, request origins and payments. The system combines Tor routing, fake requests, locally rewritten prompts and cryptographic payment proofs. The payment system already runs on Ethereum mainnet and accepts assets such as ETH and USDC. Buterin says the setup is becoming usable but starts each new conversation more slowly. Buterin acknowledged that an AI provider cooperating with Tor's first relay could analyze traffic timing and potentially identify real requests.