Arkham CEO denies claims of ‘snitch-to-earn’ program, says it’s for finding bad actors

The head of startup blockchain intelligence platform Arkham has refuted claims in the crypto community that its new “Intel Exchange” is a “snitch-to-earn” or “docs-to-earn” system.

On Twitter Space on July 11, Arkham CEO Miguel Morel discussed the public relations debacle that has unfolded in its marketplace this week.

Arkham’s Intel Exchange aims to “anonymize the blockchain” by rewarding users with a new token, ARKM, for uncovering the identities behind anonymous blockchain addresses. It was launched this week on the Binance Launchpad as a token sale.

The platform quickly generated a lot of criticism on crypto Twitter and was dubbed a “snitch-to-earn” system.

Morel disagreed with these claims and justified the platform by saying that it was designed to expose the scammers and hackers behind crypto exploits.

“A publicly available blockchain is probably the worst way to keep one’s personal information private,” he said, before adding that Arkham would retain control of the data:

“It is not a completely free market. So it is not like anybody can post any piece of information and then it goes online.

“There are a lot of restrictions and guidelines that we will put in place,” he added.

i will join @marionoffl Cryptotownhall will open discussion about Arkham and our new intel-to-earn ecosystem at 14:45 UTC.

See you there!https://t.co/PEfHI8aLBw

– Miguel Morel | Arkham (@RealMiguelMorel) 11 July 2023

Morel said the primary focus of its information exchange is to expose trading firms, market makers, exchanges and very large institutions.

He added that these large hedge funds and trading institutions are “making money from the knowledge of who is buying and selling large positions of a particular token.”

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Another participant in the Twitter space pointed out that Arkham has a responsibility to prevent abuse and that false accusations could be promoted by so-called “crypto spies”, though Morell said this would be handled appropriately.

“Thankfully, it will actually be more scrutinized and more regulated than something like Twitter or Facebook because each bounty needs to be approved.”

This further raised the concerns of TV host Ryan Neuner who said, “My issue is not with the system. My issue is with your company’s handling of the data.”

Arkham comes under fire this week Groove User emails through your weblink referral program include an easily understandable string of characters in the referral link that reveals the referring email address.

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