Aztec Labs is relaunching zk.money, a self-custodial wallet that conceals payment amounts, balances and recipients on the Aztec Network, returning the privacy product to Ethereum users three years after its original iteration began winding down.

The wallet accepts deposits of the dollar-pegged stablecoins DAI, USDC and USDT from Ethereum, the firm told CoinDesk. USDC and USDT are converted into DAI on deposit, leaving DAI as the sole currency inside the system. Aztec Labs chose DAI because it considers it "the most decentralized of the mass-market stablecoins used today on Ethereum," CEO Joe Andrews said, adding that the wallet could support other assets later.

The product addresses a structural limitation of Ethereum's base layer: anyone who knows a wallet address can view its balance and trace its full transfer history, exposing supplier payments for businesses or spending patterns for individuals. zk.money moves payments onto the Aztec Network, which connects to Ethereum but hides balances, amounts and participants. Users can send funds to readable names such as bob.zk.money or via payment links instead of long hexadecimal addresses.

"Onchain transactions between two individuals shouldn't mean publishing your financial history to the world," Andrews said in a statement.

The wallet is self-custodial, meaning Aztec Labs' operators cannot spend or freeze user funds. A sealed server co-signs operations inside zk.money, though the project's documentation states it cannot move a user's funds on its own.

Tight caps and compliance screening

The Early Alpha release imposes strict operational limits. Each deposit, payment and withdrawal must stay below $2,500, and all users share a $50,000 daily deposit allowance that replenishes over time. The documentation describes the caps as safeguards while the system matures and says raising them would require deploying a new contract.

"The limits are in place as the system is new, experimental cryptography," Andrews told CoinDesk. Aztec Labs plans to raise them as confidence grows and after a later version goes live.

Fees run at 35 cents per deposit plus Ethereum gas costs, and 20 cents per withdrawal. Users receive 100 sponsored transactions per day inside zk.money, though payments queue if the contract covering network fees runs out of funds or cannot meet prevailing fees.

The wallet screens Ethereum addresses used for deposits and withdrawals against a sanctions policy, a compliance posture that keeps the deposit and withdrawal perimeter visible even as interior activity stays private. That design leaves a partial public trail: Aztec's documentation confirms a deposit from Ethereum reveals the sender and amount, though the recipient on Aztec can remain unknown.

Unaudited code and an open flaw

Aztec's documentation warns the software has not been fully audited and that critical bugs remain possible. Contributors disclosed a critical flaw in the network's V5 proof system in August and said a fix was planned for V6. The zk.money release does not specify what safeguards apply to the relaunched wallet in light of that finding.

Andrews confirmed zk.money will launch before the flaw is fixed. A separate system called Oxide will check payments for errors caused by bugs in the network's software, and users will be able to migrate to the updated network once the fix ships.

The original zk.money launched in 2021 and shut down in 2024, having served more than 75,000 wallets and processed over $100 million in volume before its closure. The relaunched product runs on a network still in early Alpha.

Ethereum core developers, meanwhile, are weighing changes for the planned 2027 Hegotá upgrade that could let privacy applications handle transaction approvals and fees with less reliance on outside services, though those proposals remain under consideration. Aztec Labs is not waiting: its wallet offers private payments today, within the constraints of its caps, its sanctions screening and its unaudited cryptography, with higher limits expected only after a subsequent version goes live.