Arkham Intel Exchange, a new platform that incentivizes the unmasking of anonymous crypto users, stirred up controversy recently among the famously privacy-sensitive digital asset community. Despite the controversy, some are using the platform to identify those behind rug pulls and other crypto exploits. On Arkham’s marketplace, seven bounties worth about $92,400 are focused on identifying people who engaged in bad behavior.
The conflict between idealism and pragmatism is at the heart of the story. Crypto was initially pitched to and well-received by those who value their privacy. However, it was soon realized that it was possible to figure out the owner of superficially anonymous crypto wallets, giving rise to services like Arkham, Chainalysis, and Nansen. Law enforcement and Arkham users have used this fact to try to chase down crooks and scammers.
For example, a meme-coin project called TOWELIE is accused of being a rug pull. Someone put a bounty on IDing its backers on the Arkham platform, worth $324 of Arkham’s token. TOWELIE keeps a low profile, with no official social media account on X (née Twitter) or Discord.
The lack of communication conduits highlights why figuring out who’s behind a project can be important, particularly when something goes wrong. Other bounties on Arkham include identifying the individual or entity responsible for exploiting about $415 million in cryptocurrency from FTX during its collapse as well as pinpointing who is behind the addresses that hacked crypto market maker Wintermute for about $160 million.