Arkham Announces 'De-anonymization' of ZCash. Which Transactions Are Being Tracked

RBK-cryptoPubblicato 2025-12-09Pubblicato ultima volta 2025-12-09

Introduzione

Analytics platform Arkham Intelligence has announced it has begun "de-anonymizing" transactions of the privacy-focused cryptocurrency Zcash (ZEC). Arkham claims to have labeled over half (53%) of all ZEC transactions, including both private (shielded) and public ones, and has linked $420 billion worth of ZEC to specific individuals and entities. Its monitoring tools provide alerts for large transactions and use AI for analysis. As an example, Arkham highlighted that the U.S. government holds $1.26 million in ZEC, confiscated from AlphaBay founder Alexander Cazes eight years ago. Zcash creator Zooko Wilcox responded by stating the announcement is not true de-anonymization, as ZEC users themselves choose whether to make their transactions visible on such a dashboard. The news comes amid a significant price surge for ZEC, which has increased nearly tenfold since the start of the year. Wilcox admitted he does not know the reason for the price increase but dismissed theories of a "coordinated pump" as cynical propaganda. Zcash supporters argue that Arkham's labeling is primarily based on data from the public portion of the network, though Arkham asserts it used methods to correlate some activity from the private pool as well.

Analytics platform Arkham has announced that it has started 'de-anonymizing' transactions in the Zcash cryptocurrency. This coin is known for allowing users to choose between private or public transaction processing.

Arkham claims to have labeled more than half (53%) of the transactions in the Zcash network, both shielded and open. Analysts have linked $420 billion in ZEC to specific individuals and organizations. Arkham's features for monitoring Zcash activity include the ability to receive notifications about large transactions, as well as analyze operations using artificial intelligence.

As an example of Zcash monitoring, Arkham pointed out that eight years ago, the US government confiscated $737,000 in ZEC from AlphaBay founder Alexander Cazes, which has appreciated in value over the years. The US government's balance now holds $1.26 million in ZEC.

Zcash creator Zooko Wilcox stated that this is not de-anonymization in the full sense, as ZEC users themselves decide whether their operations will be visible.

"The Arkham headline makes it sound like they can 'de-anonymize' Zcash owners. But in reality, when you use Zcash, you choose for yourself whether one of your wallets will be displayed on their dashboard or not," Wilcox wrote.

This fall, after almost five years of dormancy, the price of ZEC has increased nearly tenfold since the beginning of the year. Such a sharp spike has caused a lively reaction in the crypto community, dividing it into two camps: some believe the growth is a natural revaluation of the project's fundamental characteristics, while others see it as the result of a large-scale and coordinated promotional campaign.

At the end of October, Wilcox admitted that he did not know why ZEC was rising so much in price or if it would fall back. "But here's what I do know: the talk about this being a 'coordinated pump' is just more propaganda from people who can't believe in something good and genuine," the ZEC founder wrote.

Zcash supporters on social media also claim that the main part of Arkham's labeling is based on data from the open part of the network. The company itself assures that it used methods to correlate some activity from the private pool as well.

As of 12:40 Moscow time, Zcash is trading around $410. Over the past 24 hours, the coin has appreciated by 4.5%, and over the year by 543%.

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