CoinJoin, a popular Bitcoin (BTC) mixing tool, will block transactions associated or flagged as illegal. The announcement came from the official Wasabi Wallet Twitter account, which Coinjoin is a part of. The zkSNACKs coordinator will start refusing certain UTXOs from registering to coinjoins. pic.twitter.com/X3kBuQwieO — Wasabi Wallet (@wasabiwallet) March 13, 2022 The official announcement noted that CoinJoin services would start blocking certain unspent transaction outputs (UTXOs) from registering with the CoinJoin with the help of the zkSNACKs coordinator. A zkSNACKs coordinator is a virtual machine used to mix the origin of the transitions. Privacy-focused mixing tools are primarily used to …

Haven Protocol (XHV) showed signs of returning to its bullish form as its price doubled in just five of trading. What's pumping Haven Protocol? XHV's price surged by up to 107% week-to-date to climb above $3.60 this Friday, its highest level in more than three months. Interestingly, the move upside followed a period of aggressive selloffs that saw XHV's value dropping from nearly $20 in November 2021 to as low as $1.60 in early February 2022 — an approximately 90% decline. Interestingly, the move upside followed a period of aggressive selloffs that saw XHV's value dropping from nearly $20 in …

Stocks and cryptocurrencies saw a notable bounce on March 9 even though war, rising inflation and historically high oil prices have investors uncertain about the future. Bitcoin (BTC) price surged to $42,600 in the early trading hours and several altcoins followed suit with double-digit gains. Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView shows that the biggest gainers over the past 24-hours were Monero (XMR), Kyber Network (KNC) and Tornado Cash (TORN), with Zcash (ZEC) earning an honorable mention. Monero Monero is one of the longest-running privacy-focused protocols in the cryptocurrency market and the project is popular among investors looking to …

Technology, although capable of improving quality of life, has eliminated any slivers of privacy. Although a human right, third parties, often big tech corporations, have taken to storing personal data, patterns and other activities, even selling this data for their profit. Many would agree this problem is only increasing with the prevalence of more personalized “offers.” Data is the new oil, so it’s particularly important to develop technologies that can utilize data in a privacy-preserving way. Most people give away their data, signing it over to companies by clicking “accept,” not even bothering to read the fine print. As data …

From the very beginning, individuals making use of pseudonymous identities to protect their privacy has been an integral part of the crypto sector, however, with the market having matured a lot since the early days, the question of these practices still being morally sound has once again come to the forefront, especially in relation to projects that have achieved a certain amount of mainstream clout. In this regard, American media and entertainment firm Buzzfeed recently outed the identities of two of Bored Ape Yacht Club’s (BAYC) four founders — i.e., “Gordon Goner” and “Gargamel” — as Greg Solano and Wylie …

Unlike some of my peers in the technology space, I don’t see the Metaverse as a virtual world in which we work, socialize and shop. Rather, I see it as a point in time, reached in 2020 and into this year because of the global pandemic, when the digital world became as important as the physical world. It’s a shift away from the idea that physical reality is superior and preferred over digital reality. Work for many has turned into a series of Zoom meetings, people are buying virtual real estate, and children are spending time with their friends in …

Ohio’s eighth district congressman Warren Davidson has introduced the “Keep Your Coins” bill in the House of Representatives to protect individuals’ self-custodied crypto wallets from U.S. government agency control. The introduction on Feb. 15 comes just a day after the Canadian government invoked the Emergencies Act, giving it the power to freeze bank accounts and monitor large transactions (including crypto) without a court order. The move was in direct response to fundraising efforts by the COVID-19 policy-focused Freedom Convoy protesters. The name of the bill 'Keep Your Coins' is a play on KYC and refers to protections for crypto users …

On Tuesday privacy coin Monero (XMR) mining pool MineXMR's hash rate surpassed over 1.4 GH/s, accounting for 44% of the hash rate of the XMR network. MineXMR has about 13,000 miners and charges a 1% pool fee. According to a screenshot from Archive.org, last August, the pool only contributed to 34% of the hash rate of the XMR network. The rapid rise in hash rate network has spooked some XMR enthusiasts, with Reddit user u/vscmm writing: "We need to talk with MineXMR to take some action right now! Please send an email for [email protected] to MineXMR admins to take action; …

On Jan. 30, the South China Morning Post reported that one of the largest Asian pharmaceutical companies, Zuellig, had launched a blockchain-based system to track the quality of COVID-19 vaccines. Called “eZTracker,” it allows any user to “instantly verify the provenance and authenticity” of vaccines by scanning the QR code on the package. Somewhat surprisingly, throughout the pandemic, there have not been many reports of blockchain-based products adopted by big pharma or global healthcare organizations to bolster the anti-COVID effort. Here is a rundown of the major cases of such adoption, along with possible reasons for the limited interest in …

Zero-knowledge applications platform Aleo has raised $200 million in a solid investment round, pushing the company forward and supporting its goals to develop products and services that encourage and assist developers in building applications on top of its decentralized network. The Series B investment round was led by Kora Management LP and SoftBank Vision Fund 2, which invest in fintech projects within emerging digital economies. Samsung Ventures also participated in the raise along with Tiger Global, Sea Capital, Slow Ventures and Andreessen Horowitz (a16z). Aleo is building a network that integrates zero-knowledge proofs, a cryptography technique that lets the platform …

A piece of legislation aimed at addressing supply chain issues to keep the U.S. economy and businesses competitive has passed the House of Representatives — without a provision many in the crypto space had criticized for giving the Treasury Secretary authority to shut down exchanges. In a 222-210 vote on Friday, the House of Representatives passed the America COMPETES Act mostly along party lines. The provision originally proposed by Connecticut Representative Jim Himes would seemingly have allowed the Treasury Secretary to have fewer limits on surveilling financial institutions with suspected transactions connected to money laundering and not open the matter …

As people all over the globe have become increasingly aware of their privacy rights and how they are constantly being violated by various prominent social media platforms, the need for tangible, decentralized alternatives has continued to grow rapidly. For perspective, in 2019, Facebook was ordered to pay a mind-boggling $5-billion fine by the United States Federal Trade Commission for improperly acquiring private data of up to 87 million of its users. Just a year later, the social media giant had to shell out another $550 million to settle a privacy lawsuit that suggested that the firm had illegally accrued customer …