Bitcoin Isn’t Anonymous Enough

The anonymity of bitcoin gained it myriad adherents among anarchists and drug dealers around the world. Now, though, it’s looking like the digital currency isn’t quite anonymous enough.
Consider the sudden popularity of Zcash and Monero, two new cryptocurrencies that offer confidential transactions. When Zcash first became available last week, demand was so strong that its founders temporarily became paper billionaires. Monero rose to fame after a popular marketplace in the dark web — the portion of the internet where people sell everything from guns to hacking tools — added it as a payment option. Here’s a chart from coinmarketcap.com showing the value of a Zcash currency unit:

This post was published at Bloomberg on NOV 1, 2016.

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