Aztec Revives zk.money Private Wallet on Ethereum Layer 2
Aztec Labs has relaunched zk.money, a self-custodial wallet for private crypto payments, after discontinuing the original product three years ago. The new version runs on Aztec Network, the company's privacy-focused Ethereum Layer 2.
The wallet doesn't publish users' balances, payment amounts or counterparties on a public ledger, unlike standard Ethereum wallets. According to Aztec, this is in line with Ethereum's goal of making privacy a 'first-class property' of the network, as co-founder Vitalik Buterin has highlighted the risks of publicly traceable financial activity.
Aztec Labs CEO Joe Andrews said: 'Onchain transactions between two individuals shouldn't mean publishing your financial history to the world. zk.money is a self-custodial crypto wallet where your financial history stays yours.'
The original zk.money launched in 2021 and was discontinued in 2023 due to scalability issues, not lack of demand. The new infrastructure gives developers more room to add features using Noir, Aztec's programming language for zero-knowledge applications.