Key Notes
- Arkham labels 53% of Zcash transactions but cannot deanonymize shielded-to-shielded transfers, accounting for 50% of activity.
- Zcash creator Zooko and Helius CEO Mert criticized Arkham’s initial announcement as misleading for suggesting impossible capabilities.
- The platform tagged $420 billion in volume, with the US Government holding $1.64 million in seized ZEC as the largest transparent holder.
Arkham Intelligence just posted an official response to the ongoing public backlash against a previous X thread claiming Arkham “deanonymized” Zcash
ZEC
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shielded transactions, deemed inaccurate by experts. The rejoinder called the critics “keyboard privacy warriors [or] bots posting nasty things,” adding that they were “nitpicking technical terminology concerning the tiny amounts they’re hiding exclusively in shielded pools.”
In the first thread, the onchain data platform announced, “Zcash is live on Arkham,” posted on Dec. 8 with a thumbnail highlighting “Zcash deanonymization” in capital letters. The “breaking news” created legs, and different media outlets and journalists amplified the message of Arkham “labeling over 53% of Zcash transactions—including both shielded and transparent,” according to Colin Wu, a respected crypto reporter.
Nevertheless, Zcash experts like its creator, Zooko, and one of the most active voices supporting the project in the past few months, Mert, responded to Arkham’s inaccurate reporting. In the rejoinder, Arkham Intelligence praised Zooko’s first response, who politely explained the inaccuracy of Arkham’s original claims. “But the resulting data is cool,” he concluded.
“No, Arkham didn’t actually deanonymize any ZEC that was held at rest in the shielded pool. That would be impossible because the information just isn’t there. They’re just tracking wallets that opted into public transparency,” Zooko stated.
Credit to ZCASH ZOOKO for a very civilized response and appreciation of Arkham’s contributions to the ecosystem. He’s a big fan.
Many keyboard privacy warriors / bots posting nasty things, nitpicking technical terminology concerning the tiny amounts they’re hiding exclusively… https://t.co/O9jUtUQT0D
— Arkham (@arkham) December 9, 2025
In one follow-up post, Mert—Helius Labs CEO—said Arkham “did not label shielded txns (since impossible) but threw that in there for a quick click boost.” He added that it is “as scammy as it gets,” considering how Arkham positions itself as a “data platform.” In another comment, Mert advised the team to “[not] blatantly lie (…) to get short-term attention.”
Coinspeaker tried to contact Arkham for clarification on its communication strategy but had gotten no response by 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 label key accounts, trace and make AI-powered educated guesses on potential connections, ownership, and onchain activity.
Overall, this accounts for $420 billion of volume tagged to known individuals and institutions, 48% of all inputs and outputs are attributed to an entity, and 37% of all balances are labeled, holding $2.5 billion worth of ZEC.
According to Arkham data, the United States Government (USG) is Zcash’s largest transparent holder, with 3,692 ZEC that hav1e doubled in value since its seizure, eight years ago. Worth $737,000 at that time, now valued at $1.64 million.
From a trading perspective, one of the largest transparent traders purchased $4.49 million of Zcash during the crash on Oct. 10. The amount was moved 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 ZEC’s price by depositing time.
Zcash has experienced significant growth in the last few months, accumulating over 1,000% gains since August.
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Vini Barbosa has covered the crypto industry professionally since 2020, summing up to over 10,000 hours of research, writing, and editing related content for media outlets and key industry players. Vini is an active commentator and a heavy user of the technology, truly believing in its revolutionary potential. Topics of interest include blockchain, open-source software, decentralized finance, and real-world utility.