Key Notes
- Arkham labels 53% of Zcash transactions but cannot deanonymize shielded-to-protected transfers, which account for 50% of activity.
- Zcash creator Zooko and Helius CEO Mert criticized Arkham’s initial announcement as misleading for suggesting impossible abilities.
- The platform generated $420 billion in volume, with the US government holding $1.64 million in the seized ZEC as the largest transparent holder.
Arkham Intelligence has just released an official response to the ongoing public backlash against a previous X thread claiming that Arkham had “deanonymized” Zcash.
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protected transactions, deemed inaccurate by experts. The reply called the critics “keyboard privacy warriors (or) bots posting nasty things,” adding that they “nitpick technical terminology regarding the tiny amounts they hide exclusively in protected pools.”
In the first thread, the on-chain data platform announced: “Zcash is live on Arkham,” posted on December 8 with a thumbnail highlighting “Zcash deanonymization” in capital letters. The “breaking news” created legs, and different media outlets and journalists amplified Arkham’s message “labeling over 53% of Zcash transactions including both secure and transparent,” according to Colin Wu, a respected crypto journalist.
Nevertheless, Zcash experts, such as its creator, Zooko, and one of the most active voices supporting the project in recent months, Mert, have responded to Arkham’s inaccurate information. In the rebuttal, Arkham Intelligence praised Zooko’s initial response, which politely explained the inaccuracy of Arkham’s original claims. “But the resulting data are interesting,” he concluded.
“No, Arkham has not actually deanonymized the ZECs held at rest in the protected pool. That would be impossible because the information is simply not there. They are simply tracking wallets that have opted for public transparency,” Zooko said.
Thanks to ZCASH ZOOKO for their very civilized response and appreciation of Arkham’s contributions to the ecosystem. He’s a big fan.
Many keyboard bots/privacy warriors post nasty things, nitpicking technical terminology regarding the tiny amounts they hide exclusively…
-Arkham (@arkham) December 9, 2025
In a follow-up article, Mert, CEO of Helius Labs, said that Arkham “did not label protected txns (because impossible), but added it for quick clicking.” He added that it was “as big a scam as possible” given how Arkham positions itself as a “data platform.” In another comment, Mert advised the team to “(not) lie blatantly (…) to attract short-term attention.»
Coinspeaker attempted to contact Arkham for clarification on its communications strategy, but had not received a response at the time of this publication. Yet the official account publicly explained that “shielded to shielded” Zcash transactions are impossible to label and trace, accounting for 50% of all transactions.
Arkham Intelligence adds Zcash coverage
For the remaining 50%, which somehow involves transparent transactions, Arkham managed to tag key accounts, trace and make educated guesses about potential connections, ownership and on-chain activity, using AI.
In total, this represents $420 billion in volume attributed to known individuals and institutions, 48% of all inputs and outputs are attributed to an entity, and 37% of all balances are tagged, containing $2.5 billion in ZEC.
According to Arkham data, the United States Government (USG) is the largest transparent holder of Zcash, with 3,692 ZEC doubling in value since its seizure eight years ago. Valued at $737,000 at the time, it is now valued at $1.64 million.
From a trading perspective, one of the largest transparent traders purchased $4.49 million worth of Zcash during the October 10 crash. The amount was transferred to a Gemini deposit address five and a half weeks later, which would result in a net profit of $6.6 million if this trader sold everything at the ZEC price by depositing in time.
Zcash has seen significant growth over the past few months, accumulating over 1,000% gains since August.
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Disclaimer: Coinspeaker is committed to providing unbiased and transparent reporting. This article is intended to provide accurate and current information, but should not be considered financial or investment advice. Because market conditions can change quickly, we encourage you to verify the information for yourself and consult a professional before making any decisions based on this content.
Vini Barbosa has been covering the crypto industry professionally since 2020, summarizing over 10,000 hours of researching, writing and editing related content for media outlets and major industry players. Vini is an active commentator and avid user of technology, sincerely believing in its revolutionary potential. Topics of interest include blockchain, open source software, decentralized finance, and real-world utilities.
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