American blockchain and software development firm Orchid Labs has launched its privacy network alongside its native token OXT. According to a blog post on Dec. 16, Orchid’s digital currency OXT was immediately available for trading on major United States-based cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase Pro. According to an announcement, OXT will be available in Coinbase’s supported jurisdictions, with the exception of New York State. Coinbase Pro started accepting OXT deposits on Dec. 13. OXT token allows one to buy and sell VPN services or provide bandwidth As previously reported, Orchid provides a decentralized virtual private network (VPN) for anonymous communication and virtual …

The Monero Compliance Workgroup has stated that the Monero (XMR) network is not subject to U.S. Financial Crimes and Enforcement Network (FinCEN) guidelines regarding the Funds Travel Rule, in a Dec. 5 blog post. What is the Funds Travel Rule? The Funds Travel Rule requires financial institutions who are sending and/or receiving funds to store and transmit certain information about the transfer if it is valued at over $3,000 or equivalent amount. However, in its May 2019 guidelines, FinCEN states that: “If a given transmission protocol is unable to accommodate such information, the obligated person may provide such information in …

Privacy-oriented blockchain web browser Brave has seen its monthly active users (MAU) almost double from 5.5 million in 2018 to 10.4 million in 2019. At the same time, Brave’s daily active users (DAU) have tripled over the past year to reach 3.3 million, the firm announced Dec. 5. According to the company, the recent growth in MAU follows the release of Brave’s new version, Brave 1.0, on Nov. 13. According to the blog post, Brave expanded its MAU base from 8.7 million in October to over 10 million at the end of November. 12x increase in new publishers Alongside a …

The Zcash Foundation, the firm behind privacy-centric cryptocurrency Zcash (ZEC), has donated $40,000 to a Canadian private messaging developer. The Open Privacy Research Society, a non-profit group working on Cwtch, a decentralized metadata-resistant messenger, has received 1,044 ZEC from Zcash, the organization announced on Dec. 3. As described by Open Privacy, Cwtch is a platform for building decentralized infrastructure based on metadata-resistant communication applications. Derived from a Welsh word meaning “a hug that creates a safe space,” Cwtch is an extension of the metadata-resistant protocol Ricochet to support “asynchronous multi-peer group communications via discardable, untrusted, anonymous infrastructure.” Open Privacy integrates …

A Grin (GRIN) developer funded by the Litecoin Foundation has suggested a solution for fixing the “Achilles heel of Mimblewimble privacy.” David Burkett, a developer at Mimblewimble’s (MW) privacy-centric coin Grin, started a thread on monthly updates detailing progress on both Grin’s development and the integration of MW’s privacy-focused technology into Litecoin (LTC). The developer announced the news on Twitter on Dec. 1: “I'll be posting monthly status updates detailing progress on the LTC MW EB (YAY acronyms). This is geared toward those interested in LTC development, but will also talk a lot about Grin++ changes, so it may be …

A group of hackers has launched a new cryptojacking campaign on Nov. 24, scanning as many as 59,000 IP networks to find Docker platforms that have API endpoints exposed online, business technology publication ZDNet reports Nov. 26. According to the report, the campaign is targeting vulnerable Docker instances in order to deploy crypto-malware to generate funds for the hacking group by mining Monero (XMR). The mass scanning issue was first discovered by American internet security firm Bad Packets LLC on Nov. 25. Troy Mursch, chief research officer and co-founder of Bad Packets LLC, said that exploit activity targeting exposed Docker …

For the past few months, the modern world has witnessed TV providers battle it out for the exclusive streaming rights for consumer-favorite shows such as Seinfeld, Friends, The Big Bang Theory, The Office and South Park. On Nov. 12, Disney took the industry by storm with the release of its Disney+ streaming platform, which attracted over 10 million subscribers within 24 hours. This has called into question the continued viability of other streaming platforms, such as Netflix, who recently announced its partnership with Nickelodeon in an effort to compete with Disney+. The new streaming service has forced competitors and programming …

Cryptocurrency exchange BitBay will delist privacy-centric cryptocurrency Monero (XMR) due to money laundering concerns. The exchange announced the decision on Nov. 25, noting that the delisting will take place on Feb. 19, 2020. The exchange explained its decision “Monero (XMR) can selectively utilize anonymity features among projects. This feature of XMR is a subject to end of transaction support. The decision was made to block the possibility of money laundering and inflow from external networks.” On Nov. 29, the exchange will already stop accepting XMR deposits. Due to the upcoming Monero blockchain fork, XMR withdrawals will not be possible from …

On Nov. 21, the United States Congressional Task Force on Financial Technologies held a hearing on the role of big data in financial services. The last major legislation focused on the subject was the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act of 1999, which formalized a financial service firm’s obligations to clients — specifically, how they share client information. Given the field’s expansion over the past 20 years, the Fintech Task Force’s posture on Thursday was that of an early exploration of options and opportunities for new and major legislation. The current conundrum Obviously, the scene has changed remarkably since 1999. Financial services are more …

The United States Deputy Treasury Secretary argued that decentralized privately-issued digital currencies can shift some functions from the state to the private sector. Deputy Secretary of the Treasury Justin Muzinich presented his view on the emerging ecosystem of financial intermediation and digital currencies at an annual banking and payments conference in New York on Nov. 21. The keynote by Muzinich was published on the official website of the United States Department of the Treasury. The recent conference was co-hosted by the U.S. Clearing House and Bank Policy Institute. Illicit uses of crypto are “one of the issues at the top …

The non-profit Human Rights Foundation (HRF) has analyzed the censorship and privacy landscape of stablecoins in a report published on Nov. 20. For privacy coins that are not stablecoins, the largest single-week losses so far this year have ranged between 24% and 34%, the HRF notes; a fact that bolsters the attractiveness of stable-value crypto assets, particularly for citizens in hyperinflationary economies. Blockchain-based stablecoins do not only provide the stability advantages of the U.S. dollar but can “democratize access to that stability,” according to the report. The HRF further states that such assets have the potential to free citizens from …

The Tor Project, the nonprofit organization behind the anonymous network Tor, announced that it now accepts Bitcoin (BTC) donations via the Lightning Network. The organization announced on Nov. 19 that it will accept Lightning Network donations as part of Bitcoin Tuesday, a fundraising initiative led by the crypto-for-charity organization The Giving Block. Tor recommended the BottlePay wallet for donations, which allows users to search for The Tor Project inside it and send crypto without copying and pasting addresses. The Lightning Network is a layer-2 payment protocol for the Bitcoin network that aims to expedite payments and address the network’s scalability …