After delisting privacy-focused asset Zcash (ZEC) in pursuit of regulatory compliance, Japanese exchange Liquid is not against a future relisting, pending regulatory clarity. “Regarding ZEC and our decision to temporarily stop providing trading services, we are seeking further guidance from both industry working groups and the MAS before we resume trading on Liquid,” exchange COO Seth Melamed told Cointelegraph on July 25, referring to the Monetary Authority of Singapore. He added: “In speaking with other VASPs [Virtual Asset Service Providers], we are not aware of any other exchange applying to the PSA [Payment Services Act] license that will be listing …

Japanese cryptocurrency exchange Liquid is reportedly delisting privacy-focused coin Zcash (ZEC) in order to apply for a license to operate in Singapore. The Electric Coin Company, which develops the Zcash cryptocurrency, announced the news in a July 22 tweet. They elaborated that Zcash will be delisted from Liquid alongside 28 other tokens. Liquid, which recently ranked #6 among top tier exchanges on CryptoCompare, has not yet posted an official statement on whether they plan to delist Zcash. Cointelegraph reached out to the exchange with more queries and will update the article pending any new information. Zcash is entirely compatible with …

eToro experienced a decline in growth of investor interest in every cryptocurrency except Tezos (XTZ) in the second quarter of 2020. Top 5 cryptocurrencies by the growth in number of eToro users investing in it in Q2. Souce: eToro. Although Tezos saw a small uptick in the number of eToro users investing in the last quarter — only 2.53%, it was enough to take first place with 8.12% growth in growth. The growth for every other asset decelerated for every other cryptocurrency with most experiencing a double digit decline. Tezos’ exceptional performance may be explained by its low base (low …

The Zcash Foundation announced an updated version of its flexible-optimized schnorr threshold signature scheme, FROST. This update aims to reduce interactions between participants. FROST is the result of a collaboration between Zcash and the University of Waterloo. FROST signatures will be used to sign transactions from the owners of a signing key. The foundation commented on the motivations behind the decision to upgrade: "Our decision to design a new threshold scheme stemmed from the desire to improve the state of threshold signature research to match the needs of Zcash users today. Specifically, we needed to ensure that performing multi-party signing …

The United States’ Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is seeking information and tools to help it trace transactions using privacy coins, layer two protocols such as Lightning Network and side chains like Plasma and OmiseGo (OMG). A June 30 request for information published by the U.S. Department Of The Treasury reveals the IRS’ Criminal Investigation Division is seeking submissions for “an interactive prototype” with a graphic user interface for analyzing distributed ledger-based transactions involving privacy coins and other privacy-enhancing blockchain technologies. IRS peeks into privacy The document explicitly names Monero (XMR), Zcash (ZEC), Dash (DASH), Grin (GRIN), Komodo (KMD), Verge (XVG), …

On June 8, Chainalysis announced support for privacy coins Zcash (ZEC) and Dash (DASH) making it easy for the law enforcement to track them. Calling Dash a privacy coin is a misnomer The company claims that it can trace the vast majority of Zcash and Dash transactions due to the fact that most users do not use privacy-enhancing features. When it comes to Dash, Chainalysis goes as far as to say that calling it ‘privacy coins’ is a misnomer, it concludes: “In fact, independent wallet softwares provide more advanced forms of CoinJoin that are being used with major cryptocurrencies not …

Researchers from Carnegie Mellon University have released a study into the privacy features of Monero (XMR) and Zcash (ZEC) — arguably the two most-popular crypto assets purporting to offer users anonymity. The report finds that Monero’s introduction of strict security and anonymity requirements on its broader ecosystem has maintained the asset’s status as “effectively untraceable.” Transversely, the report concludes that the lack of utilization of Zcash’s privacy capabilities on the part of more than 99% of users undermines the privacy of the overall network despite ZEC offering “strong cryptographic features.” Zcash user behavior undermines privacy The report describes Zcash as …

While thousands of companies and entities look to grab people's data for various reasons, the commonly stated idea that folks don't care about privacy is untrue, according to the Electric Coin Company, the entity behind privacy-focused crypto asset Zcash. Citing inconvenience and other excuses, some people claim they do not care about privacy, Electric Coin Company Product marketing staff Elena Giralt said in a presentation at CoinDesk's digital Consensus 2020 conference. She added, however: If you take a step back, it's helpful to understand that billions and billions of dollars go into developing technology platforms and systems to harvest data …

A study by Rand Corporation unveiled that people using Zcash for illicit or criminal purposes in the dark web may not fully understand the underlying technology. According to the 65-page report published on May 7, the US-based think tank and government contractor highlighted that criminals have doubts regarding the anonymity offered by Zcash. The research highlights that the governance of Zcash and its branding as compliant with AML/CFT regulations may make it less susceptible to exploitation for illicit or criminal purposes. However, there is one aspect that the study reveals many criminal's perception of Zcash: market conditions, rather than specific …

The number of fully shielded transactions recorded on the Zcash (ZEC) network leaped up almost 70% in April to hit a new record of over 8,700. According to a May 1 tweet from the ZcashCommunity account, this represented 6% of the total transactions, which was also a record proportion historically. April’s gains followed an equally impressive March, which itself saw a 100% increase in transactions over February. In total, the jump from February’s 2,430 fully private transactions to the 8,721 in April represents an increase of over 250%. In contrast, it took three years for fully shielded transactions to break …

Developers are competing to bring ZCash privacy functionality to a Bitcoin sidechain. To do this, they’re using the Drivechain technology created by decentralized prediction market pioneer, Paul Sztorc. As an added incentive, Sztorc has announced a prize fund of up to 6.1 Bitcoin (BTC). This bounty will reduce slightly if not claimed by midnight EST on May 1. Drivechain adds altcoin functionality to BTC Drivechain is an implementation which allows for the creation of Bitcoin sidechains with a true two-way peg. This would allow Bitcoin holders to move their coins to any sidechain they choose. Doing this could allow users …

Cointelegraph recently sat down for an interview with Charles Hoskinson, who is the co-founder of Ethereum and CEO and founder of IOHK — the company developing Cardano. During that interview, Hoskinson shared details about some of the crypto projects that he is most interested in. Ergo “It's one of the most revolutionary cryptocurrencies ever built. Got so many crazy ideas like non-outsourceable puzzles and sigma protocols and pruning the blockchain and roller chains. All this crazy stuff. Even has a proof of no premine.” Ergo was founded by Hoskinson’s “favorite technologist”, Alex Chepurnoy, who also contributed to the development of …