The core principles of cryptocurrency were based on financial independence, decentralization and anonymity. With regulations being the key to mass adoption, however, the privacy aspect of the crypto market seems to be in jeopardy. In 2022, even though no particular country has come up with a universal regulatory outline that governs the whole crypto market, most countries have introduced some form of legislation to govern a few aspects of the crypto market such as trading and financial services. While different countries have set different rules and regulations in accordance with their existing financial laws, a common theme has been the …

“I like to call myself a future, or aspiring, cult leader,” Meltem Demirors, chief strategy officer of CoinShares — a publicly listed investment firm managing around $5 billion in assets — told Cointelegraph. Demirors, who first entered the Bitcoin (BTC) space in late 2012, further mentioned that it has been “fun to see how big the crypto sector has become,” noting that people from all walks of life are now interested in the cryptocurrency space. As such, Demirors explained that “crypto cults” are bringing people together in a positive manner, especially since it gives people a sense of purpose and …

Zcash (ZEC), a privacy coin that launched in 2016, unveiled an upgrade to its system on May 31 that will allow users to more easily make private, trustless digital cash payments on mobile phones. Not everyone would view this as a good development. The unfamiliarity, uncertainty and public intrigue surrounding privacy — including its complexity, misuse and speculative activity — presents a number of challenges and reputational issues for innovating crypto projects. While a core tenet and source of pride among crypto projects such as Zcash, privacy has been demonized by those in power, including lawmakers, regulators, banks and academics. …

Despite the latest technology, the world has yet to crack the code for privacy and security online. But that isn't the only big problem we need to worry about. Hackers and robbers are tricking innocent users into giving up their private information as society becomes increasingly digital — and virtual currencies have a role in all of this. Cryptocurrencies smashed records in 2022, with the market topping $2 trillion for the first time ever. And while this has been greeted with excitement by current investors, it's made others more wary. Why? Because as the asset class grows, it becomes more …

Litecoin is one of the earliest alternative coins (altcoins) that came to light after Bitcoin (BTC). Created in October 2011, it is now the 20th most valuable cryptocurrency, boasting a market capitalization of over $4 billion, according to CoinMarketCap data. The MimbleWimble upgrade was first conceived more than two years ago as part of the Litecoin Improvement Proposal. That was in November 2019, as the network started planning on enhancing anonymity between senders and receivers of a transaction on its network. And now, the MWEB is finally out following approval from the majority of nodes. The upgrade was done at …

In January, the United States Federal Reserve Board of Governors released a discussion paper on a potential U.S. central bank digital currency (CBDC) titled “Money and Payments: The U.S. Dollar in the Age of Digital Transformation.” The comment period for the paper ended May 20, with the Fed receiving over 2,000 pages of comments from individuals alongside responses from leading stakeholders. Cointelegraph read a selection of shareholder responses to the Fed paper, and it quickly became apparent that there are plenty of confidently stated opinions but little agreement among them. The main points of commonality are in the places they …

Major cryptocurrency exchanges in South Korea have delisted Litecoin (LTC) weeks after flagging its privacy-focused MimbleWimble (MWEB) upgrade. In a public announcement on Wednesday, Upbit cited the Act on the Reporting and Use of Specific Financial Transaction Information, which prohibits anonymous transactions as the key reason for ending support for LTC. The delisting comes in the light of the much-awaited MWEB upgrade that made LTC transactions private, hiding some of the key identifiers. The upgrade was released earlier this year, nearly two years after its first proposal. The crypto exchange reached out to the Litecoin Foundation to understand the privacy-focused …

For Daniela Barbosa — general manager of blockchain, healthcare and identity at the Linux Foundation and executive director of Hyperledger — digital currencies and cryptocurrencies have made it among the big banks at the World Economic Forum in Davos. In an interview with Cointelegraph shot against the backdrop of the Swiss Alps, Barbosa explained that in the few years she has attended the WEF, the presence of cryptocurrency companies has steadily grown. What's more, we should not be afraid of central bank digital currencies (CBDCs). “CBDCs are [a]natural evolution of digital dollars and digital currencies.” While the WEF saw calls …

Wandering around the metaverse is like being in a computer game, but soon, it will look exactly like real life. Unlike some dystopian visions of the metaverse, I don’t think we will give up on reality and stop participating in the physical world. On the other hand, advancements in artificial intelligence content generation will likely lead to a photo-realistic metaverse featuring exact replicas of ourselves and propel us toward a hyper-reality that combines our real-world and digital lives. Everything we do today on the internet will happen in the metaverse, just with a more engaging visual interface. The virtual content …

Crypto has inherited many values that were popularized in the early days of the internet. Many participants in the crypto space have been anonymous since the beginning of Bitcoin (BTC), since using this digital money offers a certain degree of anonymity so long as nobody knows the public address of the user. The true identity of its creator, Satoshi Nakamoto, remains unknown to this day. The most recent wave of innovation spearheaded by decentralized finance (DeFi) and nonfungible token (NFT) projects have anonymous teams that maintain their general right to remain unknown. The founder of DeFi analytics dashboard Defi Llama, …

The crypto market has been on a downward trajectory since the tail end of 2021. In early May 2022, it culminated in a dip that impacted traditional markets just as hard. The recent bust removed some speculation from the market. But the shakeup is different than in the past. There are still many more active users utilizing the Bitcoin network than we have seen in past cycles. Many more holders and true believers made it through to the other side. However, as this increases over time, one of the concerns some have over Bitcoin (BTC) may impact its adoption. There …

“The Metaverse” and “Web3” are the buzzwords of the moment, with their concepts permeating across the worlds of fintech, blockchain, and now even mainstream media. With decentralization thought to be at the core of the Web3 Metaverse, the promise of a better user experience, security and control for consumers is what’s driving its growth. But with users’ identities at the heart of the Metaverse, coupled with unprecedented amounts of data online, there are concerns over data security, privacy and interoperability. This has the potential to hinder the development of the Metaverse, but both regulated and self-sovereign identities could play an …