What is Arkham Intelligence All About? The Trends And the Controversy

Rise of Arkham Intelligence

Binance recently announced Arkham Intelligence as its 32nd project on its launchpad. So, what is Arkham all about? In short, we can say Arkham Intel is a platform offering structured on-chain data with features. 

The market for crypto intelligence is projected to be at least a staggering $30 billion annually. As the crypto ecosystem expands and AI-based analytics enhance on-chain data, these intelligence tools will be crucial for serious participants and observers of the new financial system.

So, how does Arkham do it? According to the protocol’s whitepaper, Arkham systematically analyzes and deanonymizes blockchain transactions, unveiling the people and companies behind the crypto activity. 

Using its proprietary AI-powered algorithmic address-matching engine, Ultra, Arkham links blockchain addresses to real-world entities, offering insights and analytics that can help market participants outperform others.

Exciting, right? Let's dig deeper and see what the other aspects of Arkham Intelligence are:

‍

Various Aspects of Arkham Intelligence

Let’s explore the various aspects that can make Arkham Intelligence a game-changer in the crypto industry!

Entity Analytics: One of the standout features of Arkham is its Entity Analytics. By linking blockchain addresses to real-world entities like exchanges, funds, and whales, users gain access to crucial data and analytics. 

Token Pages: With Token Pages. Users can analyze specific token projects, getting insights into top holders, transaction activity, exchange flows, and other essential metrics. It's like having a powerful microscope for every token!

Visualizer for Intuitive Understanding: Making sense of token flows and relationships between addresses and entities can be complex. But Arkham's Visualizer simplifies this process, enabling users to intuitively grasp token movements and interactions.

Multi-Chain Support: Arkham has established partnerships with major blockchains, such as BNB Chain, Polygon, Avalanche, Tron, and Optimism. It also supports the two giants - Bitcoin and Ethereum. 

Meet ULTRA - The AI Engine: Powering Arkham's intelligence is ULTRA, a sophisticated AI-powered engine. Developed over three years by core contributors, with support from the founders of Palantir and OpenAI, ULTRA algorithmically matches addresses to real-world entities. 

Now let’s talk about one of its recent additions - The Arkham Intel Marketplace.

‍

How the Arkham Intelligence Marketplace Works

Remember the onchain sleuths relying on donations for their hard work? Arkham changes the game for them, allowing them to earn based on their skills and experience. 

The Arkham Intel Exchange bridges the gap between those demanding blockchain intelligence and the savvy sleuths gathering it. Through smart contract bounties and auctions, valuable intel can be traded anonymously, creating a thriving intel-to-earn economy.

Further, to ensure reliable information on the Intel Exchange, Arkham has introduced a staking requirement for bounty hunters. This minimizes spam and encourages accuracy. Hunters' stakes are slashed if their submissions are rejected, incentivizing them to provide high-quality data.

With bounties that include finding wallet addresses of hedge funds, revealing the real identity of imposters, and uncovering scams, the Arkham Intel Exchange is all set to reshape how information is valued and shared in the crypto world.

So, here's how it works:

Step 1: Bounty Posting Buyers: They are traders, researchers, or even journalists, who post bounties on the Arkham platform. They ask for specific information or insights related to on-chain data. These bounties are like challenges that need solving.

Step 2: Enter the bounty hunters: The clever minds with a keen eye for detail. They dive into the posted bounties, claiming them by providing valuable on-chain data and analysis. It's like a race against time and other hunters to fulfill the bounty first.

Step 3: Payment in $ARKM: The hunter who successfully cracks the case and provides the required information is the one who gets rewarded! And what's the currency of this reward? It's Arkham's native token, $ARKM.

Step 4: Exclusive Access and Community Decentralization The buyer holds exclusive access to the intel purchased and sold on the Arkham Intel Exchange for 90 days. This allows them to maximize the short-term value of the intelligence they've acquired. After the period of 90 days the intel is available to the community.

Allowing access to the community over time ensures long-term decentralization of on-chain information. Everyone benefits from shared knowledge!

It's exciting, to say the least, to find the wallet address of a hedge fund, find out who an impersonator of a notable person is, and help victims of scams find out who the culprits are!

However, Arkham also faced controversy amid all the excitement.

‍

Controversy Surrounding Arkham: Privacy and Security Concerns

Arkham, the blockchain exchange aiming to provide transparency in crypto transactions, has been met with skepticism and controversy due to its potential for misuse. 

Skeptics worry about smear campaigns and doxing innocent people, presenting it as an unrestricted free marketplace. Users can invite others to the exchange via unique referral URLs on the wallet tracking dashboard. Although these URLs seem random, they have reportedly decoded versions of the user's email address, posing a threat to their privacy.

The issue with referrals caught the eye of privacy advocates, including m4gicpotato, who contributes to the privacy blockchain Beam. 

Carter Woetzel, lead researcher and economist for the DeFi privacy protocol Shade views the concept of a completely transparent blockchain as a gateway to surveillance. 

Further, the business analyst Adam Cochran raised eyebrows when he suggested Arkham's privacy policies included mixing users' social media data with their inputted information, resulting in concerns about security and privacy.

‍

Insights by Arkham CEO: Emphasizing Safety and Transparency

Arkham CEO, Miguel Morel, strongly refuted the notion that the exchange is an unrestricted free marketplace. He assured users that posting personally or physically incriminating information would not be acceptable or using the platform for revenge. 

As per the Arkham CEO, the primary intention of the marketplace is to provide the crypto community with valuable information to stay safe from frauds, scams, and rug pulls. It aims to offer preventative information and investigate incidents within the space.

Morel specifically addressed the tweet by business analyst Adam Cochran, stating that the criticism is "completely and unequivocally false misinformation." As he clarified, Arkham's terms of service and privacy policy may contain standard legal language to protect the company, but that does not mean the company uses the information for other purposes.

He firmly asserted that Arkham does not use personal information uploaded by users to enhance the data on the platform. 

‍

Striking the Perfect Balance - Transparency & Privacy 

Arkham envisions a future where transparency, efficiency, and trust are at the forefront of the digital asset space.

With its focus on deanonymization, decentralized access to crypto data, and intelligence, Arkham aims to empower users with valuable insights and analytics, giving them a competitive edge in decision-making. 

While Arkham has faced controversies, its CEO, Miguel Morel, expresses a vision of community involvement and moderation for the marketplace, striking a balance between transparency and privacy. 

The journey has just begun, and we can't wait to witness the impact of Arkham Intelligence on the ever-evolving world of cryptocurrencies.

Currently, there are more than 30 bounty tasks in Arkham Intel Exchange, ranging from 1k to 100k ARKM ($510 to $51,000), most of which are hacking incidents. A 100k ARKM bounty is being offered to investigate a reported hack by FTX in November 2022 that cost over $415 million in cryptocurrencies.