Hassan Maishera
TL;DR
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Aztec Labs has relaunched zk.money three years after discontinuing the original wallet.
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The new version runs on Aztec Network and keeps balances, payment amounts, and counterparties off the public ledger.
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Users can claim ENS-based handles and send or request payments through shared links.
Aztec Labs has brought back zk.money, a self-custodial wallet for private cryptocurrency payments, following three years spent developing the infrastructure behind its replacement.
The relaunched wallet runs on Aztec Network, a privacy-focused Ethereum Layer 2. According to the company, it allows users to transact without publicly revealing their balances, payment amounts, or counterparties.
The return comes as privacy gains prominence within Ethereum’s development agenda. The network’s roadmap calls for privacy to become a first-class property, while co-founder Vitalik Buterin has highlighted the risks of exposing individuals’ financial activity through publicly traceable transactions.
New Infrastructure Brings zk.money Back
The original zk.money launched in 2021 before Aztec Labs discontinued it in 2023. During that period, the company says the product served more than 75,000 unique wallets and processed over $100 million in volume.
CEO Joe Andrews told The Block that the shutdown reflected technical limitations rather than weak demand for private payments.
The earlier system was difficult to expand with new features and could not scale globally, he said. Aztec consequently shifted its attention to building a network capable of supporting a broader range of private applications.
After three years of development, Aztec Network is now live and overseen by the nonprofit Aztec Foundation. Aztec Labs is developing open-source products on top of that infrastructure.
Andrews said the new foundation also gives developers more flexibility to add features using Noir, Aztec’s programming language for zero-knowledge applications.
The new wallet aims to make private payments easier to initiate. Users can claim a readable handle, such as bob.zk.money, instead of sharing a long cryptocurrency address. They can then send or request payments using links.
The handles use Ethereum Name Service technology and can work with applications that support ENS. Users can also choose who is permitted to interact with their handles.
Aztec says funds can be sent from Ethereum-based exchanges directly to a zk.money handle, providing a route for bringing assets into the wallet.
Its central privacy feature concerns what becomes publicly visible. Unlike a standard Ethereum wallet, Aztec says zk.money does not publish users’ balances, transaction amounts or payment counterparties on a public ledger.
DeFi Connections and Mobile Access Are Planned
Users can currently access zk.money through the web or run it locally. Aztec also plans to connect the wallet with Ethereum DeFi protocols. The company says it is working with potential partners and expects integrations in Q4, but has declined to identify those partners before further announcements.
A mobile application is also planned for Q4. There is no firm launch date yet, so mobile access remains a forthcoming feature rather than part of the current rollout.
These additions would expand the wallet beyond its initial payment functions, although the company has not disclosed the full scope of the planned integrations.
Self-Custody and Legacy Security Remain in Focus
Aztec describes zk.money as non-custodial and says it cannot spend, move or freeze users’ funds.
The relaunch follows a June exploit involving two older Aztec smart contracts. The company says those contracts belonged to separate products discontinued years earlier and were not part of the current Aztec Network.
According to Aztec, the new zk.money operates on the newer network and was unaffected by that incident.
Aztec has raised $125 million to date, including a $100 million Series B backed by a16z crypto and Paradigm in 2022. With zk.money’s return, the company is again building user-facing privacy products after concentrating on the underlying network.
