NanoAI / Pay-Per-Question AI on Arc

The subscription model is broken for AI access. You pay $20/month but only need 3 answers. NanoAI flips this: pay exactly $0.001 per question, on-chain, peer-to-peer, with no middleman. The key insight is that this model is only possible on a chain with near-zero gas. On Ethereum, $0.001 in USDC costs ~$2.50 in gas — the economics are impossible. On Arc Testnet, gas runs ~$0.0004, keeping a 60% margin on a $0.001 payment. Arc is the first chain where true nanopayments actually work. How it works: Users connect MetaMask to Arc Testnet, type a question, and pay 0.001 USDC on-chain. The backend verifies the transaction hash before calling Claude (Anthropic). The AI response is returned, and every receipt — with tx hash, token count, and ArcScan link — is stored permanently. What we built: - Live app at nano-ai-hub.vercel.app - MetaMask + Arc Testnet payment flow, fully functional - 50+ verified on-chain transactions - Supabase global leaderboard (top users by questions asked) - ArcScan integration for every transaction - Express backend with Claude API This isn't a prototype — it's a working economy. Every AI call is a real blockchain transaction. NanoAI demonstrates a new primitive: usage-based compute billing where billing is on-chain, trustless, and settles in seconds.