Pay-per-use AI Chat

How It Works

Under the hood of AskPay's decentralized payment gate.

The Payment & Query Flow

A simple, secure, step-by-step process that keeps you in control.

1. Ask a Question

Type your question into the chat. The app fetches the current query fee directly from our smart contract.

2. Approve USDm

If your allowance is low, authorize the smart contract to spend the exact fee amount. Your wallet prompts for permission.

3. Confirm Payment

Sign the fast micro-payment transaction on Celo. The exact USDm query fee is transferred securely to the smart contract.

4. Receive Answer

Once the transaction is confirmed on-chain, the AskPay API instantly verifies payment and generates your AI response.

What is MiniPay?

MiniPay is a mobile-first Web3 wallet built directly into the Opera Mini browser. Designed specifically for emerging markets, it lets millions of users access decentralized applications with zero complexity, sub-second wallet setup, and intuitive phone-number based identity.

AskPay integrates deeply within MiniPay to deliver a native app-like checkout, bypassing standard browser wallet connection friction.

Why Celo?

Celo is a carbon-negative blockchain designed for real-world mobile payments. It provides extremely low transaction fees (typically costing less than $0.001) and lightning-fast execution, completing transactions in under 5 seconds.

Importantly, Celo allows paying gas fees directly in ERC20 stablecoins. This means you don't need to hold volatile native blockchain gas tokens (like ETH or CELO) to ask questions on AskPay.

Frequently Asked Questions

Clear, honest answers about AskPay operations and assets.

Absolutely. AskPay is fully non-custodial and operates on audited open-source smart contracts. Your stablecoins remain in your own wallet (such as MiniPay or Valora) and are only transferred when you explicitly approve and confirm a transaction for a specific query. We never have access to your private keys or any funds beyond what you authorize.

The payment transaction is bound to a specific query ID on-chain. If the AI service fails to respond due to a network outage or API error, the query status remains unpaid or failed. Because transactions are recorded on the Celo blockchain, you will never pay for a query that the AI does not answer.

USDm is a stablecoin pegged to the value of the US Dollar (1 USDm = $1.00 USD) available on the Celo blockchain. It allows for predictable, stable pricing for micro-transactions so you can pay exact fractions of a dollar per query without worrying about the volatility of traditional cryptocurrencies.

Yes! While AskPay is designed to be highly optimized and seamlessly fast inside the Opera Mini browser using MiniPay, it is a fully standard Web3 decentralized application. You can connect any Celo-compatible wallet (such as Valora, MetaMask, Rainbow, or Ledger) on desktop or mobile and interact with AskPay normally.

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