One of the familiar themes seen in previous crypto market cycles is the shifting market caps, popularity and ranking of the top 10 projects that see significant gains during bull phases, only to fade into obscurity during the bear markets. For many of these projects, they follow a recognizable boom-to-bust cycle and never return to their previous glory. During the 2017–2018 bull market and initial coin offering (ICO) boom, which was driven by Ethereum network-based projects, all manner of small smart contract-oriented projects rallied thousands of percentage to unexpected highs. During this time, projects like Bitcoin Cash (BCH), Litecoin (LTC), …

One of the most fully decentralized blockchain projects under development right now is looking for a few good zk-SNARKS developers. Actually, more than a few. In its latest contest, the Free TON blockchain community has set aside $250,000 in TON Crystal token rewards in a contest aimed at attracting developers who can create Zcash privacy protocols for Free TON. Running through July 1, the “Groth16 zk-SNARK Proof Verification Use Cases” contest is the first stage in a series of contests aimed at bringing zero-knowledge proofs to the TON Virtual Machine. There will be 10 winners splitting 320,000 TON in amounts …

Three of Cathie Wood’s ARK exchange-traded funds bought nearly $246 million worth of Coinbase Global Inc. (COIN) shares on its listing day. Another fund, Amplify Transformational Data Sharing ETF (BLOK) also purchased COIN stock. These purchases show that ETFs are eager to buy into the crypto growth story. However, Blackrock CEO Larry Fink has a different point of view. Fink said that institutional investors were fascinated by crypto but that did not translate into demand from institutions worldwide. One of the reasons for the fascination not turning into demand could be the sharp rally in Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. A …

Publicly-traded cryptocurrency mining firm Argo Blockchain will launch a Bitcoin (BTC) mining pool powered solely by clean energy, the company announced on March 26. Argo has partnered with fellow eco-friendly mining firm DMG Blockchain to create Terra Pool — a Bitcoin mining pool consisting of a hash rate derived from both company’s hydroelectric power sources, which the firm claims is the first of is kind. Argo Blockchain PLC is a United Kingdom-based mining company with three operational facilities in Canada set up to mine Bitcoin, and the privacy coin, Zcash (ZEC). The firm recently acquired a 320-acre plot of land …

Cryptocurrencies are typically pseudonymous, but not necessarily private. Bitcoin (BTC) and other assets run on blockchains, with each transaction posted publicly online. During a transaction between two or more parties, assets move to different wallets, each represented by a string of characters. With these addresses and transactions visible to all, however, a certain level of trackability exists, especially if a wallet transfers funds to an exchange requiring Know Your Customer verification. Certain crypto assets, which are often referred to as privacy coins, private coins or anonymous coins, attempt to hide information about transactions, giving users more privacy. Why might someone …

The strength of the cryptocurrency market appears to be spreading to privacy-focused coins. The calm price action of Bitcoin (BTC) often sets up an intense period for altcoins to rally, where several groups of coins can start becoming bullish. One of those segments is privacy coins. For example, Monero (XMR) rallied by more than 50% last week. Meanwhile, Dash has more than doubled, with a 125% gain, while Zcash (ZEC) rallied by 70% during the same period. Monero breaks out of USD downtrend Prior to the rally, XMR was lagging behind Ether (ETH), as the construction is quite similar between …

In the traditional investing world ‘unicorn’ is a term used by venture capitalists to describe a privately held startup valued at more than $1 billion. Typically these startups have strong fundamentals and oftentimes a first-mover advantage that helps them rapidly rise in value to become prized investment opportunities for yield-seeking funds. Some of the best-known unicorns include Elon Musk’s SpaceX, a private rocket and spacecraft manufacturer with a valuation of $46 billion, and Coinbase, the largest U.S.-based cryptocurrency exchange with a current valuation of $8 billion. While the world's attention has been focused on the Coronavirus pandemic, the outcome of …

Since then, the price of Bitcoin has suffered a correction, and most of the crypto market followed. Bitcoin is currently sitting at just over $35,000, and while traders suggest the pullback to be a healthy correction required for Bitcoin to maintain its bullish momentum, some believe the cryptocurrency may plunge below the $20,000. The Bitcoin price action has also been reflected in the altcoin market as it usually does, with many popular cryptocurrencies surging alongside BTC. Noticeably, Ether (ETH), the native token of the Ethereum platform, has doubled in value in the last month and is currently sitting at over …

The sharp correction in Bitcoin (BTC) may have shaken out many leveraged traders, but the data shows whales and institutions aggressively purchased the dip and now bulls have shown they are determined to push Bitcoin price back above $40,000. The total crypto market capitalization has also recovered and surged back above $1 trillion. Pantera Capital founder and CEO Dan Morehead said he stands by his earlier prediction of $115,000 for Bitcoin by August of this year. Morehead believes China's digital yuan developments may boost crypto adoption and prove to be a bullish trigger. Several altcoins have also turned positive and …

On New Year’s Day, the U.S.-based crypto exchange Bittrex announced via Twitter that it was delisting three leading privacy coins: Monero (XMR), Zcash (ZEC) and Dash. A link promised further details, but those who followed it learned nothing to explain why trades in those tokens would end on Jan. 15. Still, the news couldn’t have been entirely surprising. Regulators, both in the United States and abroad, have been casting a gimlet eye at privacy coins these days. Unlike Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH), the coins promise enhanced anonymity by hiding users’ addresses and transaction amounts, which make transactions more difficult …

Privacy-focused cryptocurrency Zcash (ZEC) celebrated its first halving event on Nov. 18. The occasion was marked by the implementation of the Canopy upgrade, which establishes a development fund for the platform and removes the controversial “Founders Reward.” The halving and upgrade occurred at block 1,046,400, just over four years after Zcash was first mined in late October 2016. Canopy is the fifth major upgrade to Zcash, primarily consisting of the change to the mining rewards distribution. Prior to this, funding for the development of the platform was potentially set to expire at the point of the first halving. Technical upgrades …

Cryptocurrency exchange ShapeShift recently delisted three privacy coins: Dash, Zcash (ZEC) and Monero (XMR). This was an unexpected move to say the least, given the exchange’s historic commitment to privacy. As a noncustodial platform, Shapeshift did not impose user identification requirements on traders in its early days, although this began to change with the gradual introduction of a mandatory membership model, compliant with Know Your Customer rules, as of 2018. Why then, did it move to delist Dash, Zcash and Monero, even as other exchanges such as Coinbase, Kraken and Binance.US still list these coins? In a statement shared with …