Arkham Enterprise launched with a catch. Free users of the on-chain analytics platform lost full transaction history and filtering, now seeing only 100 recent transactions per address, yet the Arkham (ARKM) token rose almost 8%.
The changes took effect October 20. According to Arkham’s sign-up form, Enterprise costs $1,500 per month after a free trial for approved users, a steep charge for insights built on public blockchain data.
Arkham’s Transparency Tool Being Accused of Opacity
Beyond transaction history, Arkham moved Tracer 2.0, its tool for following funds hop by hop, to paid accounts. Creating new custom labels and viewing counterparties now also require Enterprise.
Free users keep Arkham’s labels, the Visualizer 2.0 transaction graph, and the block explorer. The firm also announced grants offering free Enterprise access to independent investigators and public-interest researchers.
Rival platforms pounced anyway. Nansen CEO Alex Svanevik mocked the move on X.
“$1500/mo for incorrect data 🤣🤣🤣 just use Nansen for FREE” Svanevik said.
One user, Dominium, argued that the paywall could shield bad actors from public scrutiny.
“You built your reputation on blockchain transparency, and now you’re charging $1,500/month for tools that could help shady operators stay one step ahead of public scrutiny? Congratulations on making crypto even more opaque and potentially turning it into an even bigger scammers’ paradise. Transparency for the rich. Darkness for everyone else,” Dominium lashed out.
Another user, Mohammad, predicted that open-source platforms offering identical features would soon emerge.
Are Traders Pricing the Business Model Instead of the Backlash?
Traders reacted differently. ARKM traded near $0.119 around 1:30 p.m. UTC on October 20, then reached roughly $0.128 by 3 p.m. UTC, according to TradingView data.
Volume followed. Rolling 24-hour trading volume climbed from about $6.6 million to nearly $11 million, a rise of roughly 65%.
At press time, ARKM trades at $0.1276, up around 8% over 24 hours.
Arkham built its brand by exposing corporate Bitcoin holdings for anyone to see. Now it is betting that funds and investigators will pay for that visibility, while rivals compete to keep it free.
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