Have you thought that Bitcoin is the most anonymous cryptocurrency? Unfortunately, it’s far from the truth. Luckily, there are dozens of dedicated privacy coins you can use to transact anonymously. Let’s take a look at these and explore features that make a cryptocurrency anonymous.
Bitcoin — Privacy Cryptocurrency?
Initially, Bitcoin was thought to be an anonymous cryptocurrency. As the technology behind Blockchain became known, it became apparent that the opposite is true. Bitcoin’s public Blockchain that stores information about each transaction is a rich source of information for both researchers and authorities.
Anyone who knows your Bitcoin wallet address can see the balance of this wallet. Additionally, they can see the details of every transaction made with this wallet.
While the above concept would be excellent for non-profits, governments, and other public entities where transparency is required, it’s not sufficient for businesses and individuals who deserve their financial privacy.
Therefore, crypto and privacy enthusiasts started to explore ways how to make Bitcoin anonymous.
Anonymous Cryptocurrency
So, what features would make Bitcoin anonymous?
First of all, both the sender and receiver should remain unknown, and the total transacted amount should never be disclosed. Unfortunately, with Bitcoin, this information is publicly obtainable from the Blockchain.
Additionally, an anonymous cryptocurrency should employ a method for mixing transactions so that there would be no way to determine which sender sent a given transaction. To achieve this with Bitcoin, users use Bitcoin mixers or Bitcoin wallets with a built-in mixer. Unfortunately, with mixed results.
Finally, a truly anonymous cryptocurrency should protect the IP address of the sender (and receiver). Unfortunately, this is not the case with Bitcoin, either. Therefore, Bitcoin users need to use anonymous Bitcoin wallets and other user experience deteriorating methods, such as VPN’s.
Unfortunately, rolling out the above privacy features would require substantial changes to Bitcoin’s protocol. Bitcoin’s rather conservative community was the reason why dozens of other privacy-focused cryptocurrencies popped up. Just like a crypto bubble 🙂
Privacy Cryptocurrency List
When asked which cryptocurrency is anonymous, you’d most likely mention Monero, Zcash, and Dash. While these three are on top of the best privacy cryptocurrency list, more than 70 anonymous crypto tokens exist. Most of them have been founded during the crypto bubble and have little to no market capitalization and utilization.
The list of anonymous crypto currencies include AceD (ACED), Aeon (AEON), Anoncoin (ANC), Apollo Currency (APL), ARPA Chain (ARPA), Arqma (ARQ), BEAM (BEAM), Beldex (BDX), Bitcoin Private (BTCP), BitcoiNote (BTCN), BitcoinZ (BTCZ), Bridge Protocol (BRDG), Bulwark (BWK), Bytecoin (BCN), BZEdge (BZE), CloakCoin (CLOAK), Cloadbric (CLB), Conceal (CCX), COVA (COVA), CrypticCoin (CRYP), CUTcoin (CUT), DAPS Coin (DAPS), Dash (DASH), DeepOnion (ONION), Dero (DERO), Digital Note (XDN), DMme (DMME), Dreamcoin (DRM), Dusk Network (DUSK), Eximchain (EXC), Grin (GRIN), Groestlcoin (GRS), Horizen (ZEN), Hush (HUSH), Incognito (PRV), Komodo (KMD), Kurrent (KURT), Lobstex (LOBS), Loki (LOKI), Monero (XMR), MoneroV (XMV), MoX (MOX), NAVcoin (NAV), NIX (NIX), Noir (NOR), Origo (OGO), Particl (PART), pEOS (PEOS), Phore (PHR), Pirate Chain (ARRR), Pivx (PIVX), PRiVCY (PRIV), Quantis Network (QUAN), Ryo Currency (RYO), SafeCoin (SAFE), Safex Cash (SFX), Scala (XLA), Signatum (SIGT), SpectreCoin (XSPEC), Sumokoin (SUMO), Super Zero (SERO), Suterusu (SUTER), Tarush (TAS), TeleCoin (TELE), Tixl (MTXLT), Turtlecoin (TRTL), Veil (VEIL), Verge (XVG), X12 Coin (X12), Xuez (XUEZ), Zcash (ZEC), ZClassic (ZCL), Zcoin (XZC), Zero (ZER), ZIP (ZIP), and ZumCoin (ZUM).
Most Anonymous Cryptocurrency
With such a big list of anonymous crypto coins, without a doubt, the best anonymous cryptocurrency is Monero. Monero uses various advanced cryptographic techniques that make this cryptocurrency genuinely anonymous.
Even Europol’s strategic analyst Jerek Jakubcek has confirmed the anonymity of Monero. During the Blockchain Alliance webinar, Mr. Jakubcek affirmed that Monero transactions could not be traced or recorded, recalling Monero’s Blockchain as the endpoint of several investigations.
“Since the suspect used a combination of Tor and Monero, we could not trace the funds. We could not trace the IP addresses. Which means, we hit the end of the road. Whatever happened on the Bitcoin blockchain was visible, and that’s why we were able to get reasonably far.” —Jerek Jakubcek, Europol’s Strategic Analyst
So, what makes Monero the most anonymous cryptocurrency?
There is no single thing that helped Monero become a top anonymous cryptocurrency. Instead, Monero utilizes dozens of methods to achieve the best level of anonymity.
Most cryptocurrencies have their transactions public. Monero, however, utilizes Enforced privacy for all transactions so that no user can be intentionally or unintentionally traceable.
One of the most common privacy issues of cryptocurrencies is address re-use. When you receive multiple payments into a single address, anyone can easily monitor the transaction history and balance. To avoid this, Monero senders are required to generate a one-time, non-reusable Stealth address created from the receiver’s public address.
Additionally, to conceal the amount sent in a transaction, Monero utilizes the so-called Ring confidential transactions or short RingCT. By adopting this protocol, no one but the sender and receiver are aware of the transacted amount.
Monero also employs a method for mixing transactions, called Ring Signatures. When funds are sent, they are transmitted in a ring with other randomly picked transactions of the same amount. These transactions involve real users, Bots, and Mixins. By utilizing Ring Signatures, there is no way to determine which sender sent a given transaction.
Monero’s upcoming privacy innovation will take advantage of Kovri, an open-source technology for hiding IP addresses. Once released, without a doubt, Monero will become the most anonymous cryptocurrency.
The Return of Cryptocurrency Privacy
There are dozens of dedicated privacy coins that would make much more sense to use. However, the truth is that Bitcoin is the most reliable and widely supported cryptocurrency of all.
So, how to return Bitcoin to its lost privacy?
To make Bitcoin anonymous, you can convert it to Monero. Once converting your funds to Monero, they will become completely untraceable. Now that you erased their history, you can change Monero back to fresh, untraceable Bitcoins with no link to its previous history.
You can do the above manually using an anonymous cryptocurrency exchange. Unfortunately, with the crypto world being more and more regulated, the list of truly anonymous cryptocurrency exchanges is diminishing rapidly.
Still, if you want privacy, the extra hassle is still worth it.
Featured image: unsplash.com
