Author：Blockchain graduate student

Author: BitpushNews Mary Liu

Cryptographic data company Arkham Intelligence announced its first on chain intelligence exchange Arkham Intel Exchange on Monday, aiming to "de Data anonymization the blockchain", and COIN will sell its new token ARKM in public. (Related reading: "Arkham, A Quick Look at Coin Anxin Launchpad Project")

However, the community did not buy it. Arkham typically uses user recommendation codes to attract referrals. Users quickly discover that they can obtain additional data from Arkham's recommendation links, insert the information into the Base64 decoder, and obtain the complete email address of the recommender. This has sparked outrage in the privacy centered encrypted community.

Arkham said in its previous promotional tweet: "We believe that de Data anonymization is the fate of the encryption market, and the intelligent technology built by Arkham will become the basis for the self-regulation of the encryption economy."

Human flesh search engine tool?

The problem stems from Arkham's way of setting up a network link recommendation plan. Users of the Arkham wallet tracking dashboard can invite others to join the platform by sharing a unique recommendation URL. These URLs appear to be randomly composed of chaotic characters. But netizens have found that in fact, they are very easy to decipher.

M4gicpotato, the contributor of anonymous blockchain beam, exposed this problem on Twitter on Monday, accusing the company of allowing users to search their personal information without knowing it, which soon caused a heated debate. M4gicpotato's personal signature claims to be a privacy advocate and has been working in the encryption field since 2017.

As a staunch privacy advocate, I believe that these tools violate user privacy, "stated m4gicpotato in Telegram.

He stated that after announcing the ARKM public development and after-sales service at Coin On, he began researching Arkham, which is described as an intel to ear token and Intel is the abbreviation for intelligence.

M4gicpotato said: "I was very surprised when Minanghe (CEO Changpeng Zhao) chose to support Arkham, especially after Beam and other private currencies were delisted in the EU."

M4gicpotato added that choosing to encode user emails using Base64 "just adds another layer of suspicion".

Another user, Matsumoto, shared a private message with Arkham in January. The company seemed to have acknowledged this issue a few months ago, but since then, it seems that no action has been taken to resolve it.

In December last year, Arkham's Twitter account shared recommended code for a private beta version. The URL of this code contains the Base64 version of the CEO's email address.

Email addresses are crucial information for hackers, can be used for phishing attacks, and may be used to crack previously anonymous encrypted users.

Some users even start generating fake recommendation links and posting them to Twitter, such as [email protected] And [email protected] As a way of mocking Arkham.

It is currently unclear how many users will be affected by this setting. In theory, any user who generates recommended links and shares them may expose their email.

Privacy and Centralization Concerns

Arkham operates as a blockchain analysis platform that provides data from real-world entities and individuals participating in crypto market activities on the chain. One of the core functions of the platform is "intelligence bounties", and blockchain analysts can provide paid services to help customers identify the name or address of any cryptowallet owner.

According to Arkham, users will be able to anonymously publish and receive rewards for blockchain transaction information. After the bounty is completed, any entity that pays the bounty will have exclusive access to the data within 90 days. Arkham stated that once the initial exclusivity period ends, it will release the data to the public.

Arkham stated that its new platform will bridge the gap between analysts, traders, investors, journalists, researchers, and protocols, and the available information will include detailed evaluations of wallet content and address investment performance.

Last year, the financial losses caused by encrypted hacker attacks and exploits broke historical records, with billions of dollars worth of digital assets stolen from cross chain bridges, decentralized finance (DeFi) protocols, and exchanges. Arkham aims to combat the proliferation of Cryptocurrency hackers through research on the incentive chain, but some privacy advocates raised concerns.

Many cryptographers believe that this brings economic benefits to the mining of personal and private information, and this practice may pose risks if abused. In addition, the Arkham Foundation is responsible for reviewing and approving auctions and bounties, and a high degree of centralization of power is also an issue.

Mark Zeller, founder of the Aave DAO Service Provider Program, commented in a tweet that "I am very disappointed with the spirit of selling ecosystems with garbage coins," which is a "huge net negative impact.

Some users have described the company's Intel Exchange as a "whistleblower oriented" or "whistleblower as a service" program.

Arkham has raised over $10 million through two rounds of equity financing, with the latest round of equity financing of $150 million. The transaction on Arkham Intel Exchange will be completed through ARKM tokens.

According to the announcement released by Coin On, the first token sales will begin tomorrow and will be conducted through Coin On Launchpad for a period of six days. 5% of the token supply will be allocated to token sales, 20% will be allocated to core contributors, 17.5% will be allocated to investors, and 17.2% will be allocated to the foundation treasury. Arkham Intel Exchange will be launched on July 18th after the first sale of ARKM tokens ends.