Privacy Coins and Anonymity in Cryptocurrency

||
|--------|

|^{[unsplash](https://unsplash.com/photos/silver-round-coins-on-blue-surface-YmRMlRD3npY)}|
|--------|


Hi friends, trust you're keeping well. Good to have you here once again. I trust you had a good time checking out my last post. Today we would be discussing something more interesting just as I've titled the post.

You might be unfamiliar with what a Privacy Coin are but do not worry, I would take you on a ride of absolute enlightenment. Just stay with me as I take you on this journey. Leggo guys!

|**Introduction**|
|--------|

Privacy is something that almost everyone (if not all) needs. Sometimes we hate it when people intrude into our space. Privacy is also relevant in the world of crypto and can also be achieved for those who really want to be anonymous with their transaction.

I understand that some folks want to enjoy privacy and anonymity because of the dubious manipulation and laundering activities they are into, nevertherless we can downplay the need for privacy by those who need it for their personal security.

The blockchain system is designed in such a way that adresses are used to receive and send asset and not our real name. This in itself is a level of anonymity and privacy but then with ones wallet address, an individual can be traced or monitored via his transaction with the address.


|.jpeg)|
|---------|

|^{[unsplash](https://unsplash.com/photos/blue-and-black-mask-illustration-BxELNNMN88Y)}|
|--------|


This therefore means the privacy is not absolute neither is the user anonymous. A typical example is the case of Silk road, a bitcoin black market as at then. It was actually shut down by FBI in 2013.

There was no way they could have gotten them if not for the fact that they were traced and monitored by the FBI via their addresses for making and receiving BTC payments. This uncovered the owner of the silk road black market.

This singular occurrence birthed the need for improved privacy and anonymity and not just some pseudonymous status which can be uncovered with due dilligence and intelligence. The aftermath of this quest gave birth to what we call **Privacy Coin**.

---------

|**What Is Privacy Coin**|
|----------|

Privacy coin is a class of coin that is specially designed to protect users privacy and make them completely anonymous. Their transactions are been cloaked or covered in such a way that it become difficult to trace or monitor. There are quite a number of coin that fall into this category.


||
|-----------|

|^{[unsplash](https://unsplash.com/photos/a-group-of-coins-KrpOwO4AIwM)}|
|---------|

I mean hundreds of them in this category. We would be exploring few of them shortly. Interestingly, you might even be familiar with one or two of them but do not know that they have this special in-built feature.

|**Examples of Privacy Coin**|
|----------|

• **Zcash (ZEC)**: Zcash fondly called Zerocash is one of the top 5 privacy token whose native coin is called ZEC. It's actually a fork of the popular mother coin, Bitcoin and that was in 2014. This coin was specifically built to solve the problem of privacy and anonymity.

It does this by leveraging on **zero knowledge technology** which makes it possible for transaction to be completely encrypted such that the sender, receiver , amount sent are concealed.

----------

• **Monero (XMR)** : Monero is a well know and established privacy coin. It was launched in 2014 and is well known for the remarkable degree of privacy and anonymity it give to it users which seems to be greater than other cryptocurrency in it class.

Monero blockchain is an open source blockchain but then transaction details such as sender and receipient address including transaction amount are cloaked by a technology called **ring signature and **stealth address**.

----------

• **Dash**: The last but not the least on my list is DASH, it was also built with this intent. It has also gained prominence for offering users with high level of privacy and anonymity using it **PrivateSend** technology to cloak transaction details.

I think it's also important to mention that it didn't start with the name dash, it was initially, Darkcoin before it became Dash in 2015. I think the name Darkcoin already passed the message. Even after the name change, the purpose remained constant.

--------

|**Bottom Line**|
|----------|

I believe we can now see that our privacy and anonymity can be protected via this class of coin. What we have presently is a pseudonymous, an identity without the real name that can be traced anyways but with privacy coin, ones identity can be protected.

There you go friends.I would love to wrap it up at this juncture. I want to believe you've gotten so much from this piece. As my usual custom is, I would always encourage that you DYOR to be sure of every financial step you would want to take as I won't be liable for any form of loss encountered by you.

Feel free to share with me your thoughts in the comment section. Thanks for your time once again. Gracias!

-------------

^{**Disclaimer: This post is made as an education and not investment advice. Digital asset prices are subject to change. All forms of crypto investment have a high risk. I am not a financial advisor, before jumping to any conclusions in this matter please do your own research and consult a financial advisor.**}

----------

Regards
@lhorgic♥️

-----------