Aztec Labs brought zk.money back online on Tuesday after a three-year pause, relaunching the privacy-focused wallet on its newer Aztec Network rather than the infrastructure used by the original 2021 product.

The first version of zk.money attracted more than 75,000 unique wallets and processed over $100 million in transaction volume before Aztec Labs began winding it down in 2023. Aztec Labs CEO Joe Andrews said technical constraints in the original architecture drove the shutdown rather than a lack of users. The company subsequently redirected engineering resources toward a broader platform capable of supporting multiple applications.

How does the relaunched wallet shield transactions?

Once funds enter Aztec Network through zk.money, the system can shield balances, payment amounts, and counterparties from the public ledger. Deposits coming from Ethereum, however, remain visible before funds cross into the privacy layer.

The originating address and transferred amount can still be seen on Ethereum when a user sends assets from a standard wallet into zk.money. Privacy begins only after the assets move into Aztec, where subsequent transactions can conceal those details.

Users can register human-readable payment identities such as "alice.zk.money," which rely on Ethereum Name Service infrastructure and can be shared when requesting or sending funds.

What are the current operational limits?

The relaunched wallet is operating under conservative caps while the system remains early-stage. Individual deposits, payments, and withdrawals are capped at $2,500. A shared $50,000 deposit allowance spans all users and replenishes over time. Deposits cost about $0.35 plus Ethereum gas, while withdrawals cost roughly $0.20. Users may receive up to 100 subsidized transactions per day, contingent on the fee-subsidy contract holding sufficient funds.

Zk.money accepts deposits in DAI, USDC, and USDT. USDC and USDT are automatically converted into DAI, which Andrews said the team selected because it viewed the stablecoin as "relatively decentralized compared with other widely used alternatives." DAI therefore serves as the wallet's internal settlement asset.

Where does the regulatory exposure sit?

Ethereum addresses used for deposits and withdrawals are screened under the wallet's sanctions policy. The wallet is self-custodial, and Aztec Labs does not hold the private keys needed to move user assets. The company says it cannot independently freeze, redirect, or spend funds held through zk.money.

Governance of Aztec Network has since transferred to the nonprofit Aztec Foundation, while Aztec Labs continues to develop applications on top of the network.

What risks remain unresolved?

The relaunch ships with a known security caveat. Aztec disclosed in August a critical vulnerability affecting its V5 zero-knowledge proving system, with a permanent fix planned for a later network version. Zk.money is launching before that update completes.

In the interim, a monitoring system called Oxide is detecting transaction problems associated with the known vulnerability, with a migration path planned once the corrected network version becomes available. Aztec's documentation also notes that the network remains early-stage, has not undergone a full audit, and may still contain undiscovered vulnerabilities.

Separately, two exploits in June affected smart contracts tied to older Aztec products that had already been retired. Aztec said those contracts are not part of the current network infrastructure and that the relaunched zk.money was unaffected.

Andrews said the team expects transaction limits to evolve as the network matures and the V5 fix ships. Until that update is live, the relaunch functions as a constrained test of the architecture that displaced the original 2021 product.