Code Exploit Cyber Security: 10 Privacy Blockchain Cryptocurrency Networks for Data Value Storage

Since Bitcoin’s inception by Satoshi Nakamoto in 2008, a Blockchain protocol which would evolve to top a record $19,783 in December 2017, it is fair to assume that many new entrants into the Blockchain space believe their transactions to be private.

This assumption is a common misconception, probably stemming from the fact that, data hashed onto the blockchain is inherently encrypted. However, this information resides on a public Blockchain which can be viewed using block explorer and even specialist Blockchain tools such as Chainalysis.

In this article, we shall explore 10 Privacy Blockchain cryptocurrency protocols that can protect data and help you store value securely with complete privacy.

For those new to the Blockchain space and looking for more information, attention will be drawn to where tokens can be found and best ways to store them. Let’s dig in:

1.DASH Protocol (Coin: DASH)

Dash: an open source cryptocurrency that purports itself as Digital Cash. Created in 2014 by Evan Duffield as a fork of the Bitcoin protocol, Dash, which is also a decentralized autonomous organization (DAO), uses a proof of stake algorithm with a hash function called X11.

Implemented in C++ programming language, Dash uses the X11 hash function to hash data eleven times, making transactions untraceable. 

The Dash ecosystem caters for businesses and individual needs alike, with easy online access and even access at some ATM machines. Businesses can accept transactions for any items or subscriptions across all boarders within seconds.

DASH Tokens are currently valued at 1 DASH = £65.20 at the time of writing, available from many exchanges including KuCoin

2.Monero (Coin: XMR)

Created in April 2014 by Nicolas van Saberhagen, Monero is an open source cryptocurrency network that focuses on fungibility, privacy and decentralization.

Monero runs on an obfuscated public ledger, which means anyone can broadcast a transaction, but any outside observer would not be able to determine the source, amount, destination, or balance of the transaction.

Although dark web operators were initially attracted to the privacy offered by Monero, the community ethos encourages the use of the cryptocurrency for people seeking financial privacy, while incentivising miners to keep the network active using a Proof of Work algorithm.

The architecture of Monero unlike Bitcoin is based on the CryptoNight proof-of-work hashing algorithm, which is an improvement on CryptoNote protocol to produce enhanced security and privacy features.

         

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-Bulletproofs: These are a type of non-interactive zero-knowledge proof which allows transactions to be verified without knowledge of the sender, receiver, or the amount without the need for a trusted party.  

-Ring Confidential Transactions (RingCT): These are used to obfuscate the amount sent in a transaction using range proofs and cryptographic commitments.

-Enforced Privacy: To ensure that no users can be accidentally or deliberately traceable, Monero uses enforced privacy by default.

-Ring Signatures: When a Monero transaction is being sent, the user signs the transaction with an input they own and 10 other inputs to give a total of 11 inputs which could have been used to generate the transaction. An external observer cannot determine exactly which input address was used to sign the transaction, giving the sender plausible deniability.

                                              Monero GUI version 0.12.3 on Windows 10

-Stealth (One-Time) Addresses: Monero requires senders to cryptographically generate a one-time address using the receivers’ public address.

Monero is currently valued at 1 = £46 at the time of writing, available on many exchanges including BitTrue

3.ZCash (Coin: ZEC)

Zcash was developed and launched by a group of top cryptography research scientists from MIT, Johns Hopkins, Technion, Tel Aviv University and UC Berkeley in 2016.

The protocol differs from other privacy coins by offering two modes: Transparent and Shielded Modes

Transparent transactions are denoted by the t-address, where the user can choose to disclose some information about the transaction, whiles shielded transactions are denoted by the z-address, and implemented with a type of zero-knowledge proof algorithm called zk-SNARKs.  

Zcash affords its users the ability of “selective disclosure”, allowing a person to prove payment for auditing purposes. A possible use case scenario for this option is compliance with anti-money laundering and tax regulations. Transactions can then become auditable, but disclosure is under the participant’s control.

Zcash tokens are currently valued at 1 ZEC = £37 available in selected exchanges including KuCoin

 4.BEAM (Coin: BEAM)

Beam privacy coins were officially released in March 2018 and featured an implementation of the MimbleWimble protocol. The whitepaper for the cryptocurrency emerged under a pseudonym Tom Elvis Jedusor (a character from the Harry Potter books)

Beam users have complete control over their financial transactions, with the ability to control the specific information shared and with whom.

The Beam blockchain was built from scratch using C++ language, and the MimbleWimble protocol adopted to ensure privacy and scalability. MimbleWimble achieves this by summarizing the blockchain so only a final state summary is kept.

Unlike transactions on other networks like Bitcoin where only the sender signs, Beam allows both sender and receiver to sign the transaction, using the Schnorr protocol. To further ensure transaction data is not revealed, Beam employs a compact version of zero-knowledge range proofs, called Bulletproofs.

BEAM is available on Windows, Linux, Android and MacOS.

Currently the coins are valued at 1 BEAM = £0.22 available from multiple exchanges including Binance

5.PivX (Coin: PIVX)

PIVX which stands for Private - Instant - Verified - Transaction(Tx) is a pioneer in Proof of Stake (PoS) 2.0 technology and an MIT licensed, open source, decentralized privacy blockchain, focused on fungibility, transaction privacy, community governance and network scalability to become one of the most technically advanced, and globally accepted online digital currency.

Founded in 2015 and originally known as DarkNet (DNET), PIVX was designed to be like Bitcoin core code, with improvements on Proof of Stake Masternodes to provide services like instant transactions, coin mixing and decentralized budgeting systems.

PIVX has some key features that enforce private transactions including Obfuscation, SwiftTX and See-Saw Rewards Mechanism. Source codes for implementation can be found for free on Github.

Currently PIVX is valued at 1 PIVX = £0.20 and available in exchanges like KuCoin

6.Grin (Coin: GRIN)

Grin was launched in January 2019 as an implementation of the MimbleWimble protocol, programmed with Rust language.

The blockchain is open source, private, scalable and aims to fill the gap in private lightweight cryptocurrency networks.

Grin is valued at 1 GRIN = £0.40 at the time of writing and available from exchanges like KuCoin

7. MimbleWimble (Coin: MWC)

MWC is a scarce pure proof-of-work MimbleWimble based coin that facilitates greater privacy, network scalability, and fungibility than legacy blockchain protocols.

All transactions on the base layer use Greg Maxwell’s CoinJoin protocol with confidential transactions and signature aggregation.

The use of natural instantiations with commitments, Schnorr and BLS signatures make MWC resistant to inflation and coin theft which has earned MWC the accolade of Ghost Money.

Currently MWC is valued at 1 MWC = £13 and available on selected exchanges including HotBIT

8. Zcoin (Coin: XZC)

Zcoin is the first full implementation of the Sigma Protocol, which allows users to have complete privacy transactions via zero-knowledge proofs.

The privacy features of Zcoin are achieved using three unique methods.

-Anonymize: Zcoin’s Sigma Technology can ‘mint’ a coin found on a public ledger into a private coin, breaking any transactional links to ensure complete privacy.

-MTP: With a unique proof of work known as Merkle Tree Proof, Zcoin becomes ASIC-resistant and ensure egalitarian mining for all participants.

-Tor/Dandelion: Zcoin protocol integrates Tor to hide IP address and Dandelion++ to further conceal IP addresses when broadcasting a transaction on the network.

Zcoin was developed by Matthew D. Green in September 2016, and written in JavaScript, C, Python, Go-Lang, and C++

Currently Zcoin is valued at 1 Zcoin = £3.32 and available in exchanges like Binance

9. DeepOnion (Coin: ONION)

DeepOnion launched in July 2017 is a privacy cryptocurrency and anonymous blockchain platform integrated with The Onion Router (TOR).

The project is a member of The Internet Defence League and is also a partner of Tails, a live operating system made for privacy and anonymity.

DeepOnion transaction confirmations happen on the Bitcoin network to improve overall security of the network. A hybrid proof of stake and proof of work consensus is used to validate the network.

DeepVault is a Blockchain notary service in the DeepOnion ecosystem, that enables digital cryptographic ownership of content such as art, documents, music, intellectual property and any digital file to be registered on the Blockchain. The registered files never leave devices, and proof of ownership can be confirmed on the DeepVaultOnline portal. 

DeepOnion is valued at 1 ONION = £0.07 and available in exchanges like STEX

10. Zilliqa (Coin: ZIL)

Zilliqa is a privacy blockchain platform developed around the concept of ‘sharding’. Sharding is when a network is divided into several smaller component networks, that can process transactions in parallel.

Zilliqa since its inception in 2017 has evolved to become a high-performance, high-security Blockchain platform for enterprises and next-generation decentralized applications.

The protocol is written in the smart contract language Scilla, with further developments in the form of ZIP3. Because of the efficient consensus mechanism employed by Zilliqa, mining the coin leaves very minimal ecological footprint.

Currently Zilliqa is valued at 1 ZIL = £0.003 and available in exchanges like KuCoin

                                         Conclusion

We hope this article helps your understanding of privacy Blockchain technology, and the current services available.

Besides the benefit of privacy, the underlying technology that powers these networks have seen rapid adoption throughout the world, with governments and businesses harnessing the Blockchain technology to build complex systems like sophisticated financial instruments, critical data storage systems, secure social identity applications, cloud systems and artificial intelligence systems among many others.

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Most Blockchain ecosystems however, have built-in inflation control mechanisms known as ‘Halving’. On the Bitcoin network for example, this event is expected to take place on the 12^th of May, 2020, effectively reducing the supply of the tokens by 50% and increasing the difficulty in hashing or validating a transaction block.

As always, it is vital to store your tokens away from the internet and exchanges in cold storage hardware wallets, ensuring your private keys and key phrases are securely stored in multiple locations.

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                           Dash: Xg1znMs8D5A6fcf5JHMrYfYF4THEWJZscg

                           ZCash: t1KVgT5WhDdJYrc97Bnvm5VuGuas9UUMbsJ

                           Onion: Ds6mNxJb8zWd5w7hP4EPyZS3n11WaqYeQ9

BEAM: 2b15112198d53e12eb17bdaa6fed88c1cf2e50d26b7503183198416f0e6c5292e95



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