Aztec Labs relaunched its zk.money wallet, restoring a privacy tool for Ethereum users after a three-year hiatus. The wallet enables individuals to hide payment amounts and recipient identities by routing transactions onto the Aztec Network.
Users can deposit dollar-pegged stablecoins DAI, USDC and USDT from Ethereum. The system converts USDC and USDT into DAI upon entry, making DAI the sole currency for internal zk.money transactions.
This mechanism moves payments off the transparent Ethereum blockchain, where wallet balances and transfer histories are publicly visible. Aztec Network, connected to Ethereum, maintains private balances, amounts and participant identities for transfers.
Joe Andrews, CEO of Aztec Labs, said, "Onchain transactions between two individuals shouldn't mean publishing your financial history to the world." The wallet addresses the exposure of business payments to suppliers or an individual's spending history inherent to public blockchains.
The wallet is self-custodial, ensuring Aztec Labs operators cannot spend or freeze user funds. Payments can be requested via a shareable link or sent directly to readable names like bob.zk.money, bypassing complex wallet addresses.
Andrews said DAI is the chosen internal currency and called it "the most decentralized of the mass-market stablecoins used today on Ethereum." He said the wallet could incorporate other assets in the future.
Despite the privacy within Aztec Network, the initial deposit from Ethereum creates a public record, revealing the sender and amount, but the recipient on the Aztec side remains private.
The relaunch includes operational limits: each deposit, payment and withdrawal must remain below $2,500. All users collectively share a daily deposit allowance of $50,000, which replenishes over time.
Andrews said these caps are a safeguard for the system's "new, experimental cryptography." Aztec Labs plans to increase these limits as confidence grows and after a subsequent version of the protocol goes live, which would require a new contract to implement.
Transaction costs include 35 cents for a deposit plus standard Ethereum network fees, and 20 cents for a withdrawal. Users receive 100 sponsored transactions daily within zk.money, but payments can face delays if the contract covering network fees depletes its funds.
Ethereum itself is exploring privacy enhancements. Developers are considering 66 proposals for the planned 2027 Hegotá upgrade, including a major privacy fix. These changes aim to allow privacy applications to manage transaction approvals and fees with less reliance on external services. However, these proposals remain under consideration.
