CIA Launched A Crypto Project To Get Your Data? 🤯

GM DOers! 😎

Looking onchain is our thing at Web3 Academy. So when we heard about an “On-Chain Intelligence Exchange”, we got excited. 🤩

Arkham is the company behind this new platform, whose purpose is to “deanonymize the blockchain”. It’s also apparently backed by OpenAI and Palantir and has links to the CIA. More on that later.

But first, here’s how this platform works:

I was skeptical initially, because anonymity is a big component of blockchain. However, I realized that this could be a helpful tool for both beginners who don’t know how to 👀🔛⛓️ and for sleuths (onchain analysts) who earn by selling their insights. 

Note: We’ll be using the word sleuths quite a bit in this article. A sleuth is an onchain analyst.

Arkham is a peer-to-peer data exchange, and therefore, there’s a token involved: $ARKM, set to launch through a token sale on Binance, which is slated for July 17th. Entry requires holding and staking BNB.

The token distribution will also consist of an airdrop for early adopters (sign-ups before July 8th).

Hype Cycle Alert 🚨 Any token distribution by an airdrop has serious hype cycle vibes. 😬

The token’s purpose? To be used for buying/selling data & for staking by sleuths to prevent spam. 

They call this the intel-to-earn model & it promises to enable users to easily acquire data while allowing sleuths to monetize their skills.

This seemed smart at first but concerns started popping off.

The first question we asked ourselves was: Since sleuths get rewarded for providing data, what’s to stop them from providing fake data? – This would cause a flood of inaccurate information on Arkham, making their platform unusable. 

They aim to fix this by having the Arkham Foundation verify the data. Remember that if sleuths submit fake data, their staking position gets slashed.

However, this raises other concerns: Who on earth is the Arkham Foundation? And if they’re ‘verifying’ this data manually, what’s to stop them from storing it themselves or selling it to 3rd party companies? 🤷

Another concern is the fact that Arkham asks you for your social security number when you sign up for their waitlist. It’s optional by why would they need that?

If that wasn’t enough, here’s the biggest concern: a bunch of users’ email addresses were leaked. And this was apparently done on purpose. (More on this soon).

Lastly, there’s also allegations that Arkham is a CIA project. As we stated in our tweet, there’s A LOT to unpack here. But you asked for it, so let’s go!

First, let’s talk about the man behind Arkham.

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The Man Behind Arkham 🕺

Arkham's captain is Miguel Morel, a name that was off our radar until Monday. Since then, Twitter has been buzzing with clips of him. I don’t recommend you watch this video, but just in case, here’s what you’re missing:

• The title is "HE SPENT HOW MUCH?!!"

• He’s described as a "crypto fucking god" 

• He spends £2500 on sunglasses

A very cringy video to watch. 😬

Now, how did a character like Morel get heavyweight backing from Palantir and OpenAI? 🤔

I’ll tell you all about that soon. But first, let's dissect Arkham's hot topic: doxxing. 🕵️‍♀️

📢 Check out our hot-off-the-press podcast!

Don’t waste your time watching Miguel Morel. Instead, check out our convo with Josh Neuroth from Ankr where we explore trends, partnerships, and government collaborations shaping the future of blockchain technology. 👀

Enjoy it on your favorite podcast platform. 👇

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Arkham's Doxxing Debacle 🕵️‍♀️

Doxxing — revealing someone's identity without their consent. Arkham stirred the pot with this exact action this week. Here’s how:

Arkham's new user acquisition strategy involved referral links. Anyone could join their waitlist and share a referral code to recruit others. But there was a MASSIVE glitch 🐛

Each referral link included the user's email in the URL. Check this out:

Notice the string of random characters after 'referrer='? That's not random. Copy it, decode it using this free tool, and voila! It unveils an email 📧

Twitter user @m4gicpotato exposed such email:

Sadly, this happened to everyone who joined Arkham's waitlist and shared their referral code, hoping to qualify for an airdrop. 😓

Accidentally done? Doesn't seem so. Evidence suggests Arkham was alerted months ago.

The accusations (still unconfirmed) are that Arkham did this to link Twitter data to users’ emails & wallet addresses easily. 🔗

Context: Upon sign up, you provide a wallet address, email, & name. When you share your referral link on Twitter, all data from Twitter is tied to your wallet address & email. 

This provides Arkham with data on your onchain activities and Twitter chatter, which they can either sell or give over to the CIA 👮

You know the saying… If it’s free, you’re the product 😉

Arkham’s CEO admitted to the flawed referral system and pledged to shift to encrypted emails in referral links for privacy. 

But launching with such an issue, despite prior warnings, raises eyebrows 🤨

Lastly, the elephant in the room: Is Arkham a CIA project? 😅

Keep scrolling & let’s see 👇

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Arkham & the CIA: A Potential Connection? 🤔

We typically steer clear of speculation, but the chatter about Arkham's possible CIA links has grown too loud to ignore. 🗣️

First, notice that Miguel lists the CIA as an interest on his LinkedIn profile.

Second, Arkham has backing from the founders of Palantir and OpenAI, Peter Thiel and Sam Altman.

We’re not saying that Peter and Sam are with the CIA, but the eyebrow-raiser? Palantir, a heavyweight in big data analytics, is known to collaborate with the CIA and FBI. 👀

This isn't wild conspiracy theory territory, either. Back in December 2021, CIA Director William Burns confirmed several ongoing crypto-related projects within the agency. Source

This makes you wonder… Is Arkham one of them? With the purpose of ‘deanonymizing the blockchain’, it does make you wonder.

Let us know… Do you think Arkham is a CIA project? Reply with Yes/No to this email!