The volume of cryptocurrency flows coming on darknet markets have doubled for the first time in four years, a new study says. In part of its 2020 Crypto Crime Report published on Jan. 28, Chainalysis — a New York-based blockchain analytics firm — found that darknet markets have significantly increased their share of total incoming crypto transactions in 2019, doubling from 0.04% in 2018 to 0.08%. Crypto on darknets is resilient to scrutiny by law enforcement According to the study, total market sales in crypto grew 70% in 2019 to account for more than $790 million worth of cryptocurrency after …

The year 2019, for a short while, raised expectations that stablecoins would bring about mass adoption of cryptocurrencies. 2020, however, seems to be dousing those hopes with ever-tightening regulation that is putting pressure on investors and companies alike. The first complication came only 10 days into the year. In early January, the European Union’s landmark Fifth Anti-Money Laundering Directive, or 5AMLD, was signed into law. The law is the latest evolution of the EU’s response to the Panama Papers scandal, in which a leak of over 11 million documents uncovered the opaque financial networks used by the world’s richest and …

On Jan. 10, the European Union’s 5th Anti-Money Laundering Directive (5AMLD), was officially signed into law. The legislation will give sweeping powers to compliance organizations and law authorities. However, aside from tracking dirty money to offshore paradises, the law brings about a series of restrictive demands on crypto companies in a way never seen before. This development cuts into the notion that, in the past, the world’s richest people comfortably diverted money across borders through a financial framework that operates firmly in a legal grey area, which has long lingered in the public consciousness. Until 2016, it seemed as if …

On Jan. 1, China’s law governing cryptographic password management came into power. Essentially, the act aims to set standards for the application of cryptography and the management of passwords, and, therefore, ultimately reduces China’s cyber vulnerabilities on a nationwide scale. Some local media outlets rumor that the law is paving the way for the long-awaited release of China’s central bank digital currency, although it does not make any explicit references in that regard. Meanwhile, the private sector is worried about the anonymity of its data. The law outlines three separate kinds of encryption but provides little information beyond that The …

Brian Armstrong, co-founder and CEO of United States-based cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase, said that he believes a “privacy coin” will go mainstream in the 20s. In a post published on Coinbase’s official blog on Jan. 3, Armstrong said that he believes in the 20s we will see the integration of privacy features into one of the major blockchains. He also foresees a cryptocurrency with such features to go mainstream in the following years: “Just like how the internet launched with HTTP, and only later introduced HTTPS as a default on many websites, I believe we’ll eventually see a “privacy coin” or …

In recent months, the race for the development of a central bank digital currency is gaining pace. The last signal was launched by Chinese President Xi Jinping, who publicly stated the need to invest public resources in blockchain, slated to be the core technology of the future. The euphoria of the Chinese market following the presidential declaration induced Mark Zuckerberg — who had been encountering considerable resistance from Western authorities since the beginning of the Libra project — to raise the alarm on an alleged Chinese overtaking of digital currency technology. A CBDC is a new type of legal tender …

Privacy-focused cryptocurrency Zcoin (XZC) has launched a new crowdfunding system similar to one by another major privacy coin, Monero (XMR). In a Dec. 26 blog post, Zcoin announced the launch of the Zcoin Crowdfunding System (ZCS), a new platform that is designed to serve as shift from direct funding from block rewards to a donation model. ZCS to help Zcoin to further decentralize the project and fund additional initiatives The new ZCS system will help further decentralize the project in line with the company’s vision of a privacy-focused cryptocurrency, Zcoin’s project steward Reuben Yap said in the announcement. The executive …

American blockchain and software development firm Orchid Labs has launched its privacy network alongside its native token OXT. According to a blog post on Dec. 16, Orchid’s digital currency OXT was immediately available for trading on major United States-based cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase Pro. According to an announcement, OXT will be available in Coinbase’s supported jurisdictions, with the exception of New York State. Coinbase Pro started accepting OXT deposits on Dec. 13. OXT token allows one to buy and sell VPN services or provide bandwidth As previously reported, Orchid provides a decentralized virtual private network (VPN) for anonymous communication and virtual …

Privacy-oriented blockchain web browser Brave has seen its monthly active users (MAU) almost double from 5.5 million in 2018 to 10.4 million in 2019. At the same time, Brave’s daily active users (DAU) have tripled over the past year to reach 3.3 million, the firm announced Dec. 5. According to the company, the recent growth in MAU follows the release of Brave’s new version, Brave 1.0, on Nov. 13. According to the blog post, Brave expanded its MAU base from 8.7 million in October to over 10 million at the end of November. 12x increase in new publishers Alongside a …

The Zcash Foundation, the firm behind privacy-centric cryptocurrency Zcash (ZEC), has donated $40,000 to a Canadian private messaging developer. The Open Privacy Research Society, a non-profit group working on Cwtch, a decentralized metadata-resistant messenger, has received 1,044 ZEC from Zcash, the organization announced on Dec. 3. As described by Open Privacy, Cwtch is a platform for building decentralized infrastructure based on metadata-resistant communication applications. Derived from a Welsh word meaning “a hug that creates a safe space,” Cwtch is an extension of the metadata-resistant protocol Ricochet to support “asynchronous multi-peer group communications via discardable, untrusted, anonymous infrastructure.” Open Privacy integrates …

A Grin (GRIN) developer funded by the Litecoin Foundation has suggested a solution for fixing the “Achilles heel of Mimblewimble privacy.” David Burkett, a developer at Mimblewimble’s (MW) privacy-centric coin Grin, started a thread on monthly updates detailing progress on both Grin’s development and the integration of MW’s privacy-focused technology into Litecoin (LTC). The developer announced the news on Twitter on Dec. 1: “I'll be posting monthly status updates detailing progress on the LTC MW EB (YAY acronyms). This is geared toward those interested in LTC development, but will also talk a lot about Grin++ changes, so it may be …

Cryptocurrency exchange BitBay will delist privacy-centric cryptocurrency Monero (XMR) due to money laundering concerns. The exchange announced the decision on Nov. 25, noting that the delisting will take place on Feb. 19, 2020. The exchange explained its decision “Monero (XMR) can selectively utilize anonymity features among projects. This feature of XMR is a subject to end of transaction support. The decision was made to block the possibility of money laundering and inflow from external networks.” On Nov. 29, the exchange will already stop accepting XMR deposits. Due to the upcoming Monero blockchain fork, XMR withdrawals will not be possible from …