Quotra — Decentralized P2P AI API Marketplace

Sell your idle AI quota, buy LLM access per-call — no credit card, no commitment.

The Problems

Problem 1: The Credit Card Wall

Premium AI APIs from OpenAI, Anthropic, and Google require a credit card to get started. Millions of developers, students, and builders in Southeast Asia, Latin America, and Africa cannot access these tools because they do not have credit cards or face regional billing restrictions.

A computer science student in Jakarta wants to build an AI chatbot for a class project. He has the skills, the idea, and a MetaMask wallet with some USDC. But no credit card. He cannot even start.

Problem 2: Idle Subscription Waste

Premium AI subscriptions cost 20–68 dollar per month, yet most users consume only a fraction of their allocated credits. Unused credits expire at the end of each billing cycle with no refund.

There is currently no way for subscribers to resell their idle quota to others who need temporary access.

Introducin Quotra

Quotra is a decentralized peer-to-peer marketplace where AI quota holders can sell their unused API access, and anyone can buy LLM calls per-request using USDC — no credit card, no subscription, no commitment.

Think Airbnb for AI quota. Providers list their spare capacity. Consumers pay per call. The marketplace handles trust, payments, and routing.

What Makes Quotra Different

• P2P by design — 90% of every payment goes to the individual provider, not a centralized platform

• No credit card required — Pay with USDC from any crypto wallet

• No ETH needed — MetaMask Smart Accounts + 1Shot Relayer cover all gas costs

• On-chain trust — ERC-7710 delegation makes provider consent cryptographically verifiable and revocable

How It Works

Step by Step

1. Provider Lists Quota
A provider connects their MetaMask wallet, enters their AI API key (OpenAI/Anthropic/Gemini), sets a per-call price (0.0001to0.0001to1.00), and defines limits (max calls, input length, expiry). The key is encrypted with AES-256-GCM before it touches the database. The listing goes live on the marketplace.

2. Consumer Discovers & Permissions
A consumer browses active listings, filters by model or price, and can test any model for free (3 calls per listing in the Playground). To start paying, they grant an ERC-7715 session permission via MetaMask — a one-time approval that creates an ephemeral session.

3. Pay-per-Call via x402
The consumer calls the API endpoint. The server returns HTTP 402 Payment Required with a price quote. MetaMask processes the USDC payment through the x402 Facilitator. The client automatically retries with a payment proof. The server verifies and proceeds.

4. AI Response
The server decrypts the provider's API key in memory, validates request limits, calls the upstream AI provider, and streams the response back. The consumer gets a standard OpenAI-compatible response.

5. Provider Claims Earnings
Earnings accumulate in the Quotra treasury (90% provider share, 10% platform fee). The provider visits their dashboard and clicks "Claim." The treasury signs an ERC-7710 delegation, and the 1Shot Permissionless Relayer executes the USDC transfer — no ETH needed from the provider.

Key Features

P2P Marketplace

Browse active listings from real AI subscribers. Filter by model name, price per call, or remaining quota. See provider reputation through truncated wallet addresses. No account required to browse.

Pay-per-Call (x402)

Pay only for what you use. Each API call costs a fixed USDC amount set by the provider — typically 0.0001to0.0001to0.001. No monthly subscription, no minimum spend, no surprise bills.

Free Playground Trial

Try any model 3 times for free before committing. Full streaming chat UI with markdown rendering. No wallet connection needed. Instant feedback on model quality and speed.

ETH-Free Experience

Neither providers nor consumers need ETH for gas. MetaMask Smart Accounts (ERC-7702) eliminate the need for EOAs. The 1Shot Permissionless Relayer covers all transaction costs, paid in USDC.

Escrow Treasury Model

All payments settle to the Quotra treasury first. If an AI provider call fails, the consumer gets refunded from the treasury. Providers claim their accumulated earnings on demand. No on-chain splits per call.

Multi-Key Support

One provider can list multiple API keys with independent settings — different models, prices, limits, and expiry dates. Each listing is independent. Revoking one does not affect others.

Who It Is For

Adit — The Consumer

Computer science student, Indonesia, 20 years old

Adit needs to build an AI chatbot for his final project. He has a MetaMask wallet with some USDC but no credit card. With Quotra, he connects his wallet, browses available models, pays $0.001 per call from his USDC balance, and calls the API like any standard endpoint.

Rina — The Provider

Freelance developer, Jakarta, 27 years old

Rina pays 68/monthforAnthropicPro+butusesonly3068/monthforAnthropicPro+butusesonly300.001/call. If fully consumed, she earns 4.50USDC—reducinghernetsubscriptioncostfrom4.50USDC—reducinghernetsubscriptioncostfrom68 to $63.50. Passive income from existing spend.

Bimo — The Hackathon Builder

Hackathon participant, needs LLM access fast

Bimo has 48 hours to build a demo. No time to set up OpenAI billing. He opens Quotra, connects his wallet, finds a model, and starts coding in minutes. No forms, no approval, no delays.

Business Model

Revenue Split

Every consumer payment flows to the Quotra treasury. Provider earnings accrue in the database. The platform fee stays in the treasury permanently after providers claim their share.

Provider Economics Example

Rina's Anthropic Pro+ subscription ($68/month, 7,500 credits):

• Lists 5,000 unused credits on Quotra at $0.001/call

• Full consumption: 5,000 × 0.0009=∗∗0.0009=∗∗4.50 USDC earned**

• Effective subscription cost: 68−68−4.50 = $63.50/month

• She earns passive income from capacity she was already paying for

Platform Revenue Projections

Competitive Landscape

Where Each Excels

OpenRouter offers the widest model selection with reliable infrastructure and a frictionless developer experience. It supports crypto top-ups, lowering the entry barrier partially. However, it is a centralized reseller — you pay OpenRouter's margin, and pricing follows their wholesale agreements.

Replicate excels at open-source model hosting with a strong developer API, versioning, and scaling. It charges platform-determined pricing per second of compute. It is not designed for proprietary API resale.

AI/ML API provides enterprise-grade reliability and an OpenAI-compatible endpoint for 200+ models but requires fiat billing and centralized payment processing.

Quotra is the only P2P option — 90% of revenue goes to providers, anyone can join without a credit card, and the entire flow is ETH-free. The trade-offs are equally real: model selection depends entirely on what individuals choose to list, reliability varies per provider (Quotra cannot guarantee uptime), and every request goes through an extra routing hop, adding latency versus direct API calls. As a hackathon MVP, Quotra also lacks the maturity, SLAs, and polish of its competitors.

mpetitors.

The Technology

Smart Accounts (No ETH Needed)

MetaMask Smart Accounts Kit converts any wallet into a smart account using ERC-7702. This means users can sign transactions without needing ETH for gas. The 1Shot Relayer pays the gas fees and charges the cost in USDC instead.

ERC-7710 Delegation (Crypto Permission Slip)

ERC-7710 is a standard for delegating authority on Ethereum. In Quotra, providers sign a delegation that says "this consumer is allowed to use my API key up to this limit." The delegation is stored on-chain — auditable, revocable, and cryptographically provable.

x402 Protocol (Pay-per-Call HTTP)

x402 is a protocol that repurposes the HTTP 402 Payment Required status code into a working micropayment system. When a consumer calls the API without payment, the server responds with 402 and payment parameters. The consumer's wallet automatically pays USDC and retries. The whole flow takes seconds.

Ed25519 Webhook Verification

When the 1Shot Relayer completes a payout, it sends a signed webhook to Quotra's server. The signature is verified using Ed25519 cryptography with keys fetched from the relayer's JWKS endpoint. This ensures only legitimate relayer callbacks can update claim statuses.

Tech Stack Summary

Week 1: Ideation & Planning

• Identified the problem of credit card barriers blocking AI API access for developers in emerging markets, and the opportunity of monetizing idle AI subscriptions.

• Designed the core product concept: a peer-to-peer AI quota marketplace powered by on-chain permissions and USDC micropayments.

• Defined the tech stack, system architecture, and wrote a comprehensive PRD as the single source of truth for the project.

Week 2: Prototyping

• Built the initial UI mockups and user flows for both Provider and Consumer journeys.

• Validated the core technical feasibility of combining x402 payments, ERC-7710 delegation, and 1Shot API into a single gateway flow.

Week 3: Implementation

• Developed the full-stack application including the marketplace, provider dashboard, and API gateway with x402 payment interception.

• Integrated MetaMask Smart Accounts Kit, ERC-7715 permission requests, and 1Shot Relayer for a fully ETH-free user experience.

• Connected the escrow treasury model and provider claim flow with on-chain USDC settlement on Base Sepolia.

Week 4: Testing & Submission

• Conducted end-to-end testing across the full Provider and Consumer flows, identifying and resolving critical bugs in the payment and delegation pipeline.

• Produced the final demo video showcasing the complete Quotra flow from listing creation to API call settlement.