Arkham Intelligence Rolls Out Crypto Data Marketplace; Privacy Advocates Cry Foul

On-chain data provider Arkham Intelligence has started a bounty marketplace that will let people buy and sell on-chain cryptocurrency data.

The marketplace, dubbed the Arkham Intel Exchange, will feature a native token (ARKM) that is designed to "deanonymize the blockchain."

"We believe that deanonymization is destiny in crypto markets, and that the intelligence technology built by Arkham will serve as a foundation for the self-regulation of the crypto economy," Arkham said in a tweet.

The token will be issued on the Binance Launchpad with 50 million tokens up for sale, which equates to 5% of the total supply. Each user will be able to buy $15,000 worth of ARKM tokens in the sale, which runs from July 11 to July 17.

The new platform uses a bounty mechanism that lets users post "bounties" for sought-after data. Blockchain researchers and sleuths can then source and provide information in return for the pledged bounty.

Cryptocurrency hacks and exploits broke records last year with billions of dollars worth of digital assets being stolen from cross-chain bridges, decentralized finance (DeFi) protocols and exchanges. Arkham aims to combat the proliferation of crypto hacks by incentivizing on-chain research, although concerns have been raised by several privacy advocates on Twitter.

Arkham has raised over $10 million from two rounds of equity financing with the latest equity round at $150 million, according to Binance's research page. Whilst 5% of token supply is allocated to the token sale, 20% will go to core contributors, 17.5% will go to investors and 17.2% will be put toward the foundation treasury.

Arkham also plans to distribute ARKM tokens to early adopters of the data intelligence dashboard. The program rewards those who promoted Arkham's growth by sharing referral codes, according to a follow-up tweet. The company said it took a snapshot on July 8 in advance of an airdrop on July 18.