Bounties drive fund recovery and on-chain data intelligence

Bounties address the need for on-chain transparency

Arkham’s Intel Exchange lets users buy and sell on-chain data through bounties. For the initial token sale, 114,454 participants blocked 10.18 million BNB, worth $2.4 billion, to purchase ARKM tokens. This marketplace addresses the $3 billion lost to DeFi hacks last year. Two online sleuths recently completed a headhunting task to find wallets belonging to Do Kwon for a 9519 ARKM bounty, which was worth about $5,971. This information contradicts statements from Terraform Labs about the Luna Foundation Guard fund. The requested data regarding the businessman in a Montenegrin prison will appear to the public at the end of October. Such bounties aid in fund recovery. For example, Mango Markets approved a $47 million bounty after an exploit of $114 million. XCarnival also saw a hacker accept a bounty of nearly 50% of stolen funds to return $2 million in ETH. Transit Swap used a bounty to recover over $23 million after an exploit of nearly $30 million. Optimism also saw a hacker accept a bounty of $1.6 million after stealing $16 million. Aurora paid a $6 million bounty to an ethical hacker who found a vulnerability that could have caused a $200 million theft. Arkham also offered a $150,000 bounty to anyone who discovered the identity behind the DJT crypto asset, which Martin Shkreli claimed to be behind. A hacker stole $350 million of cryptocurrency from Bitget hot wallets and moved it on-chain. This allows users to track each transaction live with Arkham. Arkham also provides tools to track the movements of the German government, which sold its 50,000 BTC holdings to exchanges like Coinbase and Kraken. Its analysts also tagged the cryptocurrency wallets of Mt. Gox, which held nearly 140,000 bitcoin as of July 2024.

Arkham and Nansen compete for the lead in analytics

Arkham and Nansen compete for the lead in the on-chain analytics market. Nansen covers over 25 chains and includes 500 million labeled addresses. Arkham provides entity identification across 12 chains and uses 450,000 labeled entities. The SEC awarded more than $60 million to 48 individual whistleblowers during fiscal year 2025, following an influx of 27,000 total tips that included many reports regarding cryptocurrency and several distinct and diverse crypto asset securities. Most of these tips involved manipulation or offering fraud. The SEC also received tips regarding corporate disclosures and financials, which accounted for 11% of the total volume. Arkham is the best choice for researchers who need Nansen-style entity tracking at a lower price. Nansen’s Smart Money universe includes 5,000 to 10,000 wallets. Nansen’s Smart Trader and Smart LP labels require specific behavioral criteria and PnL thresholds. Nansen’s Smart Stablecoin Holder label also identifies large stablecoin treasuries. Nansen’s Token God Mode shows Smart Money holdings and recent flows. Nansen’s Hot Contracts dashboard ranks contracts by recent Smart Money interactions. Nansen’s pricing starts at $49 per month for its Pro tier, but users can access a free tier via Arkham.

Market specifications and token dynamics

Users choose tools based on whether they want to track capital transfers or specific trades.

The market for whale tracking is fragmented. You should check the specific chain coverage before you subscribe. Arkham is moving from a centralized model to a fully decentralized exchange. CEO Miguel Morel confirmed this transition to address user custody and lower fees. The firm is seeking up to $100 million in funding from Middle Eastern investors to expand. The total supply of ARKM is 1 billion tokens. This includes 50 million tokens for the Binance Launchpad, 20% for key contributors, and 5% for the token sale. A major token unlock of 199 million ARKM occurred in September 2026. Will the massive token unlock in September 2026 dampen this growing demand for intelligence?