Category: Privacy

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Crypto News Privacy Tokens

Monero Mining Pool Dominance Drops Dramatically Amid Concerns of 51% Attack

With a market capitalisation of US$3.2 million, Monero (XMR) is the world’s largest privacy token, more than double that of its closest rival, Zcash (ZEC). However, as the protocol’s biggest mining pool, MineXMR, approached 50 percent of the hashrate, critics raised serious alarm bells.

Monero mining pools comparison at February 15. Source: pools.xmr.wiki

Risks of Concentrated Hashpower

Within proof-of-work blockchains such as Monero, the most valid and obvious concern relating to a mining pool’s disproportionate hash power is the theoretical risk of a “51 percent attack”.

In short, this is when a group controls more than 50 percent of a blockchain’s hash power. If successful, the group could then block new transactions from being confirmed, as well as change the ordering of new transactions. In addition, it may also be possible to effectively rewrite parts of the blockchain by reversing transactions. This fundamentally undermines the “double spend problem” that blockchains are supposed to solve. In that sense, the attackers can spend tokens, erase the transaction and then once again spend the tokens.

Aside from “51 percent attacks”, the other concern is that it undermines decentralisation, one of the other core premises of blockchains:

Monero Community Calls for Boycott

Across Twitter and Reddit, Monero supporters were vocal in their call for miners in the MineXMR pool to leave without delay:

As one Reddit user put it, MineXMR was just under 96 percent of the way to achieving the majority of hashrate:

One Reddit user highlighting the risk. Source: Reddit, SomeAncap2020

It would appear as if the calls to leave MineXMR have been somewhat heeded. Within 24 hours, the MineXMR pool went from 48 percent of the hashrate, down to 37 percent. Notwithstanding, its hashrate remains more than double the next largest pool, nanopool, at 22 percent.

Monero mining pools comparison at February 16. Source: pools.xmr.wiki

It’s been a tough past year for Monero, as lead maintainer “Fluffy Pony” was arrested, not to mention the token’s recent alert that its multi-sig wallet code had been compromised.

While the Monero community and holders are no doubt pleased that some miners have abandoned MineXMR, it remains to be seen whether long term, the miners are truly committed to decentralisation, or whether their own interests ultimately trump those of its holders.

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Australia Crypto News Oxen Privacy

Australian Homegrown Messaging App ‘Session’ Surpasses 1 Million Downloads

Session, an Australian born decentralised messaging platform running on the Oxen privacy network, hit a milestone at the beginning of this year by crossing 1 million downloads on the Google Play Store.

500% Growth Throughout 2021

Session is an end-to-end encrypted messaging application that runs on Oxen, a privacy-focused ecosystem supported by the $OXEN coin. Session runs on Oxen’s 1,700-plus community-driven nodes to store and route messages. Unlike P2P messaging apps, however, Session users can chat with each other when they are offline.

In 2021 Session witnessed 500 percent growth, and this year’s early milestone is a clear signal that users are more drawn than ever to privacy-focused, decentralised applications.

A million downloads is a huge milestone for us, we’ve been working towards this for a couple of years, and we’re expecting even bigger growth this year. Session is proof that people want to use decentralised applications — you just have to build good ones.

Kee Jefferys, Oxen CTO

Data Privacy and Anonymity

Session messages are onion-routed, a technique where messages are wrapped under layers of encryption, preventing traffic analysis eavesdropping (theft of information).

Unlike other messaging platforms, which compile meaningful information about the user, every encrypted message is routed through three nodes in the Oxen Service Node Network, making it virtually impossible for the nodes to compile sensitive data from the user.

Comparison of sensitive data from several messaging applications.

When users sign up to Session, their devices generate a Session ID, which is the sole contact information on the app – you don’t need your phone number or any other type of personal information to generate a Session ID.

Because of the design of the Session protocol, users can have extreme confidence that whenever they send a message that only the person they send it to will be able to know the message contents, who they messaged, and when they sent the message.

Session whitepaper

The Session app also has some really cool features such as the ability to unsend messages which deletes the message completely from both the sender and recipient devices.

Get started with Session:

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Basic Attention Token Crypto News Metaverse Privacy

Opera Releases Web 3.0 Browser Dedicated to Crypto, a Challenger to Brave?

Opera, the Norwegian-based company behind the popular so-named internet browser, has launched a beta version of its Crypto Browser Project. Featuring built-in Web3 integrations and designed to facilitate users’ experience of browsing decentralised apps (DApps), games and metaverse platforms, the beta browser also offers a built-in non-custodial wallet, now available to Windows, Android, and Mac users.

Opera Targets the ‘Crypto-Native’ and ‘Crypto-Curious’

According to a January 18 press release, the beta browser targets both “the crypto-native and the crypto-curious”, with Opera’s own crypto wallet at the core of its users’ experience. As it stands, the Opera browser features a no-login VPN (virtual private network) and native ad tracker blocker to help secure it. The current wallet is also exclusively compatible with Ethereum, but the company plans to roll out Polygon and Solana compatibility with a “big layer 2 announcement” coming in February.

The main feature of the new browser is that users can switch between apps without having to sign into their wallets for every new tab, which will work for any app that has an Opera wallet integration.

Jorgen Arnesen, vice-president of Web3 at Opera, explained the ultimate goal of the project is to help Web3 and crypto become more mainstream:

Opera’s Crypto Browser Project promises a simpler, faster, more private Web3 experience for users. It simplifies Web3 user experience that is often bewildering for mainstream users. Opera believes Web3 has to be easy to use for the decentralized web to reach its full potential.

Jorgen Arnesen, vice-president of Web3, Opera

Opera Picks a Battle with Brave

Opera, with a host of new features, hopes to expose its 350 million users to the magical world of crypto but is not the only one of its kind looking to take advantage of the interest in Web3. Privacy browser Brave recently launched a new Brave wallet and is including a Brave Swap Rewards program that will allow users to recoup 20 percent of their swap fees as an added incentive to the initiative.

Brave, in a further effort to expand its crypto reach, launched its new self-custody crypto wallet built into its browser application last November. The wallet will enable Brave users to store and buy cryptos, store NFTs, and make use of DeFi.

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Blockchain Crypto News Markets Privacy Tokens

Privacy-Focused Token SCRT Pumps 64% in a Week Amid ‘Shockwave’ Announcement

The Secret Network (SCRT) has seen considerable price movement since the launch of its new bundle of upgrades, Shockwave, aiming to improve the network and get more builders on the chain.

Shockwave Ripples Through the Down-Market

After launching its new upgrade on January 12, SCRT has seen a near 65 per cent rally in the past seven days from a low of US$5.6 to $9.34 at the time of writing, fighting against the current down-market.

The announcement has sparked interest in those who want to both invest and build on the privacy-centric chain, with its US$65 million total value locked (TVL) and total market value of US$1.3 billion at the time of writing.

SCRT 7-day price movement: CoinMarketCap

Adoption and growth are SCRT’s major focus for 2022 and could have a further positive impact on the price. There is also more potential upside after the SCRT token’s listing on FTX, giving it exposure to the major US exchange’s large client base:

Previously, the SCRT token spiked after the project launched its privacy based non-fungible tokens (NFTs) on the OpenSea marketplace.

What Does Shockwave Entail?

SCRT is the only blockchain network to have run private smart contracts on its mainnet for over a year, and in Q4 2021 integrated the Cosmos Inter-Blockchain Communication protocol (IBC) to help optimise the network and add liquidity.

The endgame of Shockwave is to turn Secret Network into cryptocurrency’s privacy-preserving hub, something that’s made possible thanks to Secret’s use of Cosmos’s IBC.

CoinBureau

With Web 3 security and privacy at its heart, SCRT has its eyes on expanding the ecosystem, with the project showcasing some major actions planned in 2022. The chain wants to create funding and incubation opportunities while empowering developers with better tools and support. In so doing, the community can grow and empower itself with a vast array of functionality at its fingertips.

According to Secret’s blog, the network has set the following goals for the first half of 2022:

  • get 100 new projects building in the Secret ecosystem;
  • have hundreds of thousands of new users onboarding onto Secret Apps; and
  • launch multiple Secret Apps achieving 10,000+ active users.
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Blockchain Crypto News Ethereum Privacy

ETH Mixer Website ‘Tornado Cash’ Deploys on Layer-2 Solution Arbitrum

Tornado Cash is a fully decentralised protocol for private transactions on Ethereum and is now ready to integrate with Arbitrum, the layer 2 solution that leverages optimistic rollups for Ethereum dApps. Faster speeds, lower fees, and transaction privacy. What’s not to love?

The Ethereum-based crypto mixer lets users swap ERC20 tokens over the Ethereum network while providing on-chain privacy by breaking the transaction link between the sender and recipient address. Tornado Cash allows withdrawals to be deposited to a different address, which cannot be linked back to the original deposit address.

Lower Transaction Fees Seal the Deal

Arbitrum’s L2 scaling solutions will not only allow Tornado Cash to process Ethereum transactions at a much faster rate, it will also make transactions cheaper for users. On-chain layer one transaction costs are notoriously expensive on the Ethereum network and can become even more so when the network is heavily congested during busy times. According to l2fees.info metrics, L1 fees on Ethereum are around US$35.41 per transaction, whereas on Arbitrum, users pay only around US$4.85 per transaction.

Arbitrum has already collaborated with other blockchains such as Polygon, Avalanche, Binance Smart Chain, and xDai.

Tornado Cash is growing in popularity and volume. Last week xDai tweeted that total deposits for Tornado Cash had crossed the US$1 million threshold.

Crypto Mixing Services of Concern to Authorities

Crypto mixing services have attracted the concern of authorities because they allow people to trade in goods and services anonymously with cryptocurrency. This anonymity makes it possible for criminals to “wash” their crypto from transactions on darknet and illegal online marketplaces such as Silk Road.

In April this year Crypto News Australia reported that the operator of Bitcoin Fog had been arrested in Los Angeles after the IRS investigated transactions that went through the Bitcoin mixing platform over a period of 10 years.

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Crypto News Crypto Wallets Privacy Zcash

Zcash Soars 30% After Move to Proof-of-Stake Announcement

Privacy coin Zcash (ZEC) has seen a near 30 per cent rally after its parent organisation announced various upgrades to the protocol and its wallet to “engage directly with ZEC users [and] rapidly roll out new features”.

Electric Coin Company (EEC), the organisation behind Zcash, has released its new roadmap outlining various changes and upgrades to the protocol as well as a new wallet arriving sometime in 2022.

Originally based on Bitcoin’s codebase, Zcash’s supply is capped at 21 million coins with 13 million in circulation, with the market cap at around US$2.7 billion, according to CoinMarketCap. Shortly after releasing the roadmap, the price of ZEC rallied from US$147 to US$189, an increase of 28.6 percent, and at the time of writing was sitting at US$210.

Zcash Upgrades in the Pipeline

In the blog post, ECC stated that the first step of its roadmap would be the release of an official wallet, the code of which will be open-source. Developers intending to develop on the protocol can also expect the release of a software development kit in the near future. 

Past indications to move Zcash to Proof-of-Stake (PoS) have come to fruition, with the ECC announcing it will migrate the blockchain from an energy-intensive Proof-of-Work (PoW) consensus mechanism, whereby miners need to run software on a computer in order to validate transactions and those with the most computing power validate the most transactions. The ECC announcement suggests that users would be able to stake a portion of their ZEC holdings into a dedicated Zcash smart contract to become validators on its blockchain, according to the size of their stake.

This shift will also increase the utility for ZEC through capabilities that include yield generation through staking and a possible path to on-chain governance mechanisms for ZEC HODLers.

 Josh Swihart, senior vice-president of growth, ECC

The last part of ECC’s roadmap focuses on interoperability. As the company completes the transition to a proof-of-stake model, new opportunities for cross-chain interoperability will arise, such as possibly using the interoperability network Cosmos.

Privacy a Pillar of Web 3.0

In this new internet, each individual is self-sovereign. There are no centralised gatekeepers to decide who can participate. There are no kingmakers who determine who wins and who loses.

ECC blog

By using cryptographic techniques, ZEC can obscure identifying information such as addresses and transaction amounts from anyone that’s not allowed to see. The coin uses a cryptographic technique called zero-knowledge proofs, which allows transactions to be made without specifying any details about those transactions other than the fact that they are legitimate. The protocol also allows users to make all their transactions anonymous, except to a specified list of addresses.

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Blockchain Privacy Tokens

Internet of Things Privacy Token $IOTX Soars 71% Overnight Amid New Partnerships

IOTX is a smart contract, layer one blockchain and IoT (Internet of Things) platform that aims to fuel the future of Web 3 through connecting the physical and digital worlds.

IOTX allows us to secure data from billions of smart devices and extract value from it with next-gen dApps. IOTX’s mission is to democratise access to the new machine economy and return power to the people.

Join the Revolution

The Internet of Things is a multi-trillion-dollar industry owned by centralised corporations that control our devices, mine our data and make huge profits, with no value being returned to the users who generate it. IOTX is here to change the status quo and build a future that empowers users, not corporations.

We envision a world where everyday people own and control their devices as well as the data and value they generate. A vision we call the Internet of Trusted Things.

The IoTeX Vision

IoTeX Announces Big Partnership Deals and $IOTX Price Pumps

Travala.com and IOTX announced their partnership via Travala’s official Twitter:

The other partnership deal with NOWPayments was also announced this week on NOWPayments’ official Twitter:

This huge news of real-world partnerships helped boost the price of IOTX, as well as a presentation given to investors by Larry Pang, IOTX head of business development, and Xinxin Fan, head of cryptography, on Trusted Vehicle Tracking with IoTeX and Pebble Tracker. See the full presentation below, uploaded on November 4.

IoTeX ($IOTX) Price Analysis

Source: CoinGecko

Just two months ago, IOTX surged 215 percent in a single day after listing on Coinbase Pro, as reported by Crypto News Australia.

Categories
Blockchain Crypto News NFTs Privacy Tokens

Quentin Tarantino to Auction 7 Unseen ‘Pulp Fiction’ Scenes as NFTs

Quentin Tarantino will auction off seven never-before-seen Pulp Fiction scenes as non-fungible tokens amid the expanding NFT craze, the legendary film director announced earlier this week.

The Secret Is Out

The NFT market has truly exploded in 2021, and Tarantino is the latest to join in on the mania. Tarantino’s film Pulp Fiction, released in 1994, quickly became a cult classic, earning US$213.9 million on a US$10 million budget, and its writer/director an Oscar for best screenplay.

Quentin Tarantino announces his Pulp Fiction NFTs. Source: gamingdeputy.com

And to keep fans on their toes, Tarantino will now auction off seven NFTs that will include previously unseen content only accessible to its buyers. The collectibles will be “Secret NFTs” built upon the SCRT Labs’ Secret Network, which will enable the NFTs to have both a public-facing and a secret element.

The collection will be auctioned off on OpenSea and will be built on Secret Network, a blockchain focused on privacy. Secret Network allows its users to post content that has hidden embeds. Secret NFTs are tokens issued on the network that allow their creators to include public and private metadata, with the choice of displaying ownership or keeping it confidential.

The public-facing element of the NFTs will be uncut and unreleased scenes from the film, each NFT containing a ‘secret content’ item that will only be accessible by the buyer. Among the seven NFTs, the secret elements will include the first uncut handwritten scripts of the film and exclusive custom commentary from Tarantino himself, in which he reveals secrets about the film and about himself.

“I’m excited to be presenting these exclusive scenes from Pulp Fiction to fans,” Tarantino said, adding:

Secret Network and Secret NFTs provide a whole new world of connecting fans and artists and I’m thrilled to be a part of that.

Quentin Tarantino, director, screenwriter and producer

Guy Zyskind, co-founder of Secret Network and CEO of SCRT Labs, highlighted the power and obsessive madness surrounding NFTs in saying that “NFTs could be the most disruptive technology to come out of this decade”. He continued:

The art community is alive with innovation and the media is actively exploring all the potential use cases associated with the technology. Now, we have privacy and access controls courtesy of Secret Network. Ultimately, that will enable a whole litany of new potential use cases.

Guy Zyskind, CEO, SCRT Labs, and co-founder, Secret Network

Hollywood Presents: the Blockchain

Amid the Covid-19 pandemic, Hollywood is expanding its reach into the blockchain. Earlier this year, it was announced that Zero Contact, a pandemic-themed picture with Oscar winner Anthony Hopkins in the lead role will premiere on the new NFT platform Vuele. The film will be the world’s first to be offered for sale as an NFT.

Furthering the role of blockchain in Hollywood is Roman Coppola, a member of one of Hollywood’s most influential filmmaking families. He and his two sisters have founded Decentralized Pictures (DCP), a decentralised film financing platform based on blockchain technology.

The company aims to use its blockchain-powered platform to decentralise the film financing process, hoping it will lead to the discovery and support of many underrepresented filmmakers.

Categories
Blockchain Crypto News Markets NFTs Privacy

Privacy-Centric DeFi Token Secret Soars 90% Amid OpenSea Partnership

The Secret Network has partnered with leading NFT marketplace OpenSea to launch Secret NFTs with a “secret world-renowned artist”, spurring the project’s decentralised finance (DeFi) token up 90 per cent.

According to Secret Network’s official website, the project is “the first blockchain with data privacy by default”, with the aim of protecting users and securing applications for Web3. The blockchain recently announced its new production house called Iconic, a platform for artists, developers and other creatives to create the first NFTs with built-in privacy and access controls.

The initial launch of the partnership will be celebrated by having a world-renowned artist and creator – whose identity remains ‘secret’ for now – auction seven unique NFTs as part of a single collection in November. Interested parties can register for whitelist consideration for these Secret NFTs here.

The initial auction will be followed by a second, larger auction that will be open to the general audience to purchase and mint their new Secret NFTs.

Guy Zyskind, founder and CEO of Enigma, the core developers behind Secret Network, stated that a great deal of time had been spent preparing for this “hero event”. OpenSea evidently shared his enthusiasm:

OpenSea is excited to partner with Secret NFTs to help artists provide a multi-tiered experience for their collectors […] Private NFTs offer a new type of solution to all kinds of creators, and we’re excited to move the ecosystem forward together.

Alexander Bercow, art partnerships manager, OpenSea

According to TradingView, Secret (SCRT) has made a 90 per cent gain since the news of the partnership broke. The token had been trading at around US$4.50 beforehand and doubled to $9 at its peak before stabilising around $8 at the time of writing.

The DeFi industry has been booming this year with the total value locked increasing 10 times since January. Australia currently ranks 12th out of 154 countries in terms of DeFi adoption.

Unseen First Issue Privacy-Based NFTs

The Secret NFTs featured in the auction will be the first of their kind to offer buyers “exclusive content viewable only to the holder – and that has also never been seen previously by anyone but its creator”.

We’ve secured IP for one of the greatest artistic creators to kick off our NFT ecosystem and punctuate our privacy-preserving technology. Secret Network is the first blockchain to support NFT assets that contain both public and private content. Programmable privacy for NFTs is fundamentally about choice – any holder of a Secret NFT can choose to make ownership and/or private metadata completely public for anyone to see.

Guy Zyskind, founder and CEO, Enigma

Traditionally, NFTs don’t allow users to choose if they want to keep the metadata and ownership private. Secret NFTs have changed the status quo by allowing these fields to remain private, whereas with other chains such as Ethereum, Binance Smart Chain and Solana, this data will always be public. An additional measure is allowing users to manage their access control where creators can choose who has full access to their content.

Traditional vs Secret NFTs: Secret network

With Secret NFTs, verifiable ownership of goods and experiences does not have to be public. Secret Network’s process of validation occurs without compromising any private data, including proofs of authenticity and transfers.

To learn more about the Secret Network, see embedded details in the tweet below:

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Crypto News Cryptocurrencies Privacy Tokens

Bizarre ‘Worldcoin’ Wants to Scan Your Eyeball to Give Everyone Free Coins

Worldcoin is a newly launched cryptocurrency out of Silicon Valley that wants to get its coins into as many hands as possible, as quickly as possible. In exchange for your free share, you’ll only need to have your eyes scanned by their “Orb” as “proof-of-personhood”.

Let’s Talk About Worldcoin

Worldcoin claims to be a “new, collectively owned global currency that will be distributed fairly to as many people as possible”. Unfortunately, a quick glance at the company’s investor base suggests that the distribution of coins is likely to be anything but “fair”. Willy Woo correctly pointed out: “How is it fairly distributed when it has primary round investments by the big name VCs and angels?”

Lead investors in Worldcoin. Source: Willy Woo

False claims of fair distribution aside, you may still be wondering what Worldcoin is actually trying to do. What is their value proposition and what real-world problems are they looking to solve? These seemingly trivial details would appear to have been overlooked in their haste to outline how this coin will be readily adopted worldwide.

To rapidly get its new currency into the hands of as many people as possible, Worldcoin will allow everyone to claim a free share of it. For this to happen, we first had to solve one major challenge: ensuring that every person on Earth can prove that they are indeed human (not a bot) and that they have not received their free share of Worldcoin already. This challenge is the longstanding problem of ‘unique-humanness’: how can you prove you are you, without telling us anything about yourself?

Worldcoin website

The coin’s lack of utility isn’t apparently a problem when it comes to the company’s vision of having the entire planet collect their free share. Instead, the issue is proving your “unique-humanness”, otherwise users would be double-claiming.

Fortunately, to solve this issue Worldcoin has a new device called an “Orb”, which scans a person’s eyes and makes it possible to know if the person has already signed up for their free share. The plan is to manufacture and distribute Orbs around the world. Orb holders then grow the network by bringing on individuals and having their eyeballs scanned. It’s like Herbalife, but for crypto.

For users concerned about privacy, the company says they needn’t worry due to “modern cryptography”, but Edward Snowden remains unconvinced about this and CBDCs.

Silicon Valley Tone Deaf?

Silicon Valley is known for being in a bubble, and this uniquely invasive and dystopic effort would appear to support that view. Could it be that Silicon Valley is entirely disconnected from the ordinary person and their concerns? The founder himself even admitted that he “underestimated the visceral reaction to using biometrics”.

To anyone paying even a little attention, it was obvious that this would be the response.

Worldcoin is seemingly, on the face of it, a self-serving project lacking any utility or value for its users, but that alone is unlikely to prove enough of a deterrent for investors looking for the next big thing.