Sep 29, 2026, 12:00 p.m. EDT
3 min read
Summary
- 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.
Transacting with a standard Ethereum wallet leaves behind a public transaction history that anyone can inspect. Fortunately, participants now have an expanding variety of choices to protect their confidential information.
Privacy software creator Aztec Labs provides the latest option, announcing the revival of zk.money, a wallet designed to obscure payment values and receivers while enabling peer-to-peer transfers via alias or payment link.
The company informed CoinDesk that platform participants will be capable of depositing USD-pegged stablecoins DAI, USDC, and USDT from the Ethereum blockchain. Both USDC and USDT are converted into DAI during the transfer process, making DAI the exclusive medium of exchange utilized inside zk.money.
On the Ethereum network, any party aware of a specific wallet address can review its total balance and examine historical transactions. This visibility can expose corporate vendor payments or personal purchasing records. zk.money shifts financial activity onto the Aztec Network, which links to Ethereum while keeping account balances, transaction sizes, and participants concealed.
Individuals can request funds by sharing a direct link or transfer money to human-readable identifiers such as bob.zk.money rather than handling lengthy wallet strings. Aztec Labs asserts that the wallet operates in a self-custodial manner, ensuring creators lack the ability to access or freeze stored user funds.
“Onchain transactions between two individuals shouldn’t mean publishing your financial history to the world,” Joe Andrews, CEO of Aztec Labs, remarked in a prepared statement.
Andrews further explained that Aztec Labs selected DAI because they regard it as “the most decentralized of the mass-market stablecoins used today on Ethereum.” He mentioned that the application might incorporate support for alternative tokens later on.
Ethereum already hosts applications capable of masking payments, though initial transfers originating from standard wallets stay visible. Developers are currently evaluating adjustments for the anticipated 2027 Hegotá upgrade, which could allow privacy tools to manage transaction validations and gas fees with less reliance on external protocols. While those changes remain under discussion, Aztec Labs is reintroducing a native wallet operable directly on its dedicated network.
Read More: Ethereum’s next big upgrade has 66 proposals, including a major privacy fix
What zk.money can and cannot hide
Transferring capital into the framework still generates a public footprint. Aztec’s documentation indicates that funding events originating on Ethereum expose both the transacting party and the transferred sum, even though the receiver inside Aztec stays anonymous.
However, this relaunch features specific restrictions. Every deposit, transfer, and payout must stay under $2,500. Additionally, all network participants share a collective daily funding cap of $50,000, which replenishes gradually. Official documentation notes these constraints serve as temporary safety measures while the architecture remains in its infancy, noting that raising thresholds requires deploying a fresh smart contract.
“The limits are in place as the system is new, experimental cryptography,” Andrews stated to CoinDesk. He noted that Aztec Labs intends to increase these ceilings once user confidence increases and a subsequent iteration deploys.
Funding an account incurs a charge of 35 cents plus regular Ethereum network costs, whereas extracting funds costs 20 cents. Users receive 100 subsidized transactions daily within zk.money, but payment executions experience delays if the contract dedicated to covering network gas runs dry or fails to meet current market rates.
Furthermore, the application screens deposit and withdrawal addresses against compliance sanctions lists. An isolated secure server co-signs transactions inside zk.money, although documentation emphasizes that this component cannot independently access user assets.
The initial version of zk.money debuted in 2021 before shutting down in 2024. Aztec Labs reports that the original service supported upward of 75,000 wallets and handled over $100 million before discontinuation.
Read More: DeFi privacy bridge Aztec Connect sunsets after less than a year
That infrastructure currently operates in an initial Alpha stage.
Aztec’s documentation cautions that the underlying software lacks comprehensive security audits, meaning critical vulnerabilities are entirely possible. Project contributors revealed a severe flaw within their V5 proving mechanism back in August, stating that remediation was scheduled for V6. The latest zk.money release does not specify which protective measures safeguard the renewed wallet following that discovery.
Andrews mentioned that zk.money will debut prior to the complete resolution of the vulnerability. He clarified that an alternate mechanism termed Oxide will monitor payments to intercept errors triggered by software bugs within the network. Participants will retain the option to migrate to the patched network environment as soon as the permanent fix becomes available.
Originally published at https://www.coindesk.com/tech/2026/09/29/embargo-12-et-ethereum-users-get-another-way-to-pay-privately-as-zk-money-returns-after-three-years.
