- Aztec Labs is relaunching zk.money, a self-custodial wallet that uses the Aztec Network to conceal payment amounts, balances and recipients while allowing transfers through readable names or links.
- Users can deposit DAI, USDC or USDT from Ethereum, though USDC and USDT are converted to DAI, and deposits remain publicly traceable even as subsequent activity is private.
- The early Alpha release caps each deposit, payment and withdrawal below $2,500, screens addresses under a sanctions policy and carries security risks because the software has not been fully audited.
Pay someone from an ordinary Ethereum wallet and they can follow its public transaction history. Fortunately, users have a growing list of options to hide their data.
The latest alternative comes from Privacy developer Aztec Labs. The firm says it is bringing back zk.money, a wallet that hides payment amounts and recipients while letting people send money by name or payment link.
The firm told CoinDesk that users will be able to deposit the dollar-pegged stablecoins DAI, USDC and USDT from Ethereum. USDC and USDT are converted into DAI on the way in, leaving DAI as the only currency used inside zk.money.
On Ethereum, anyone who knows a person’s wallet address can see its balance and trace past transfers. That can expose a business’s payments to suppliers or an individual’s spending history. zk.money moves payments onto the Aztec Network, which is connected to Ethereum but hides balances, amounts and the people involved in transfers.
People can request a payment by sharing a link or send one to a readable name such as bob.zk.money, rather than copying a long wallet address. Aztec Labs says the wallet is self-custodial, so its operators cannot spend or freeze the funds held in it.
“Onchain transactions between two individuals shouldn't mean publishing your financial history to the world,” Joe Andrews, CEO of Aztec Labs, said in a statement.
Andrews added that Aztec Labs chose DAI because it considers it “the most decentralized of the mass-market stablecoins used today on Ethereum.” He said the wallet could support other assets later.
Ethereum already has apps that hide payments, though transfers from an ordinary wallet remain public. Its developers are weighing changes for the planned 2027 Hegotá upgrade that could let privacy apps handle transaction approvals and fees with less help from outside services. Those proposals are still under consideration, while Aztec Labs is bringing back a wallet people can use on its own network.
What zk.money can and cannot hide
Moving money into the system still leaves a public trace, however. Aztec’s documentation says a deposit from Ethereum reveals the sender and amount, even though the recipient on Aztec can remain private.
The relaunch comes with limits, however. Each deposit, payment and withdrawal must be below $2,500. All users share a $50,000 daily deposit allowance, which replenishes over time. The documentation describes those caps as a safeguard while the system is new and says raising them would require a new contract.
“The limits are in place as the system is new, experimental cryptography,” Andrews told CoinDesk. He said Aztec Labs plans to raise them as confidence grows and after a later version goes live.
A deposit costs 35 cents plus Ethereum fees, and a withdrawal costs 20 cents. Users get 100 sponsored transactions a day inside zk.money, but payments must wait if the contract covering their network fees runs out of funds or cannot cover the prevailing fee.
The wallet also screens Ethereum addresses used for deposits and withdrawals against a sanctions policy. A sealed server co-signs operations inside zk.money, though the documentation says it cannot spend a user’s funds on its own.
The original zk.money launched in 2021 and closed in 2024. Aztec Labs says it served more than 75,000 wallets and processed over $100 million before the shutdown.
That network remains in its early Alpha phase.
Aztec’s documentation warns that its software has not been fully audited and that critical bugs are possible. Contributors disclosed a critical flaw in its V5 proof system in August and said a fix was planned for V6. The zk.money release does not say what safeguards apply to the relaunched wallet following that finding.
Andrews said zk.money will launch before the flaw is fixed. He said a separate system called Oxide will check payments for errors caused by bugs in the network’s software. Users will be able to move to the updated network once the fix is ready.
