Many people view cryptocurrency in a good light due to the degree of anonymity it has to offer. It is one of the major attractive points for cryptocurrency. Nevertheless, many argue that popular acclaimed private crypto coins such as Bitcoin don’t really possess true privacy.
Private cryptocurrency can be described as a token or coin designed specifically to provide a layer of privacy as additional benefits and functionality of cryptocurrency. In this article, you get to know the top privacy coins from our compiled list of privacy coins. This is our second volume of privacy coins review which will talk about DeepOnion, Firo, Pirate Chain, Beam and PRCY coin. If you want to learn about other anonymous cryptos, you can check the first volume overviewing Monero, Zcash, Verge, Horizon and PIVX.
Table of contents
What are privacy coins?
Privacy cryptocurrency coins are designed to obscure information about their user’s identities and other transactional records. Many think of the likes of Bitcoin, Ethereum, etc. as anonymous crypto coins, whereas it is nothing close to being anonymous since all transactions are recorded and stored in their transparent blockchain ledgers.
Even though the name of the user is restricted, the user’s public address is, as the name suggests, public. With such information, identifying the owner of the public key is relatively easy for organizations like the FBI or DEA with the aid of their vast resources. In addition, many crypto exchange platforms always require their users to verify their identity via KYC/AML before they can be allowed to use the platform.
Knowing the individual behind a Bitcoin transaction means that the same individual can be traced to all transactions from that same address. Tracking transactions can also be done by connecting the nodes in the Bitcoin network thanks to the transparency of the public ledger.
Bitcoin creator “Satoshi Nakamoto” is no exception to this transparency. Satoshi Nakamoto’s Bitcoin address has remained publicly visible since its launch. However, the best privacy coins offer authentic privacy to all. Any information that can be linked to the individual is only available to the same individual. Nevertheless, the level of privacy or anonymity offered to users varies on the platform. Some platforms’ level of privacy is only limited to hiding the size of crypto transactions or hiding the amount of crypto in the user’s wallet.
List of privacy coins
Here, we will go through the list of the most private cryptocurrencies in the market before we look at how to exchange crypto anonymously.
DeepOnion
DeepOnion coin is known to be a community-driven, decentralized, and open-source cryptocurrency. There are also other community-driven cryptos like DeepOnion, although they’re not that much private. The DeepOnion protocol provides multi-layered privacy and daily use cases. ONION relies on its remarkable x13 hybrid PoW/PoS to secure the network.
DeepOnion also claims to be one of the earliest adopters of Tor Network in the development of DeepOnion Wallet. It is recorded that it has never leaked any IP addresses ever since its launch in 2017. DeepOnion is regarded as one of the best private cryptocurrencies.
Here are the features you get to enjoy on DeepOnion:
- DeepSend
DeepSend functions as a base solution for undetectable and private payments without using cryptographic encryption.
- DeepVault
Designed to register and certify digital files via DeepOnion blockchain.
- VoteCentral
This is a well-structured non-biased community-voting platform.
- Payment plugins
This allows merchants to use WooCommerce, Shopify, and OpenCart plugins for payment.
Firo
The popular FIRO cryptocurrency was previously named Zcoin and it remains focused on being private digital crypto. FIRO also created the Lelantus privacy protocol for users that desire to burn their coins for brand new tokens with no transaction history.
Before the Lelantus protocol, FIRO was the first crypto coin to code and launch a practical application of the Zerocoin protocol. The Zerocoin was one of the most dominant privacy protocols in use then, before the emergence of Sigma and Lelantus.
The birth of the new protocols was necessary because cryptographic flaws were discovered in the Zerocoin protocol in 2019. It is known that Lelantus’ privacy protocol and its predecessor “Sigma” relied on specialized zero-knowledge proof referred to as One-Out-of-Many proofs.
Additionally, Firo private crypto was the first crypto project to use Dandelion++. The function prevents third parties from linking a transaction to an IP address.
Pirate Chain
The Komodo community was thrilled to have overseen an independent asset chain provided by the Komodo platform’s technology on August 29, 2018. Pirate Chain connects delayed PoW from Komodo with Zero-knowledge proof transactions from ZCash combined with the rule of compulsory private-only transactions by Monero.
While some privacy coins are known to provide privacy features as an option, ARRR anonymous crypto claims to be a 100% private send crypto coin and the first “Z transaction-only” blockchain network. Zero-knowledge cryptography technology is utilized to protect P2P transactions. According to the Pirate Chain team, Pirate Chain believes they’re behind the creation of the largest shielded private pool of funds to position it as one of the best private cryptocurrencies.
The infamous 51% attacks are prevented by Pirate’s utilization of Komodo’s dPoW. This indicates that its block is authenticated on both Komodo and Litecoin blockchain networks. For instance, a Sybil attack on Pirate is extremely difficult to pull off since it will have to overcome the joint hash rates of LTC, KMD, and Pirate. Such an astronomical cost would discourage any malicious actors.
Beam
The BEAM network operates on a Joint blockchain protocol, which consists of Mimblewimble, Dandelion and Lelantus-MW. As a confidential decentralized finance platform, BEAM provides innovative ways of increasing the anonymity of transactions, unlike the early years of the crypto industry where BTC transactions were thought to be untraceable.
The development of blockchain analysis led to the inevitable fact that transactions could actually be tracked to the user. However, Organizations like BEAM have worked towards innovative blockchain technology that can provide enough anonymity for users’ identities, transactions, and address balances.
PRCY Coin
PRCY is one of the most private cryptos and it doesn’t only provide a secure and scalable platform but also has unique privacy features. The PRCY protocol functions as both an anonymous staking coin and payment system. It also contains improved privacy technology such as Haprocates Protocol, Bulletproof, RingCTs, Ring Signatures, and mandatory stealth addresses.
Using PRCY allows you to stake, operate master nodes, and mine PoA blocks. There’s also the Ring Signatures and RingCT in a staking chain. The Ring Confidential Transaction (RingCT) is utilized by PRCY Coin to allow the possibility of mixing a real transaction with a set number of fake transactions. Through the Mandatory stealth addresses, PRCY also makes use of a dual key system to provide stealth addresses to obscure addresses from anyone but the participants of the transaction.
How to choose private crypto?
To choose any of the listed cryptocurrency privacy coins, you need to know what you are looking for specifically in private crypto. Now that you know what are privacy coins, the onus is on you to select the one that matches your needs.
For example, if you are looking for a private cryptocurrency that prevents third parties from linking your IP address to your transactions then Firo and DeepOnion are probably your best bet.
On the other hand, if you are looking for anonymous crypto that provides a triple layer of privacy protection then the Pirate Chain and Beam are your best bet.
What if you want an anonymous staking coin? That is possible with PRCY private cryptocurrency.
How to exchange crypto anonymously?
To exchange anonymous crypto coins just visit Swapzone, the best privacy coin exchange aggregator for the top privacy coins rate in the market. Here you have the whole bunch of private cryptos available to try out each and every option. Follow these steps to get your private coins:
- Visit Swapzone and select any coin from our list of privacy coins. Ensure you know the exact amount of private tokens you want to buy.
- Swapzone will pull up all the best privacy coin exchanges.
- Input the number of private cryptos you want to exchange, then you can select the private cryptocurrency exchange that suits you by clicking on the “exchange” button.
- Input the address where you want to receive the private token.
- There is also an option for a refund address, which is the address where the asset you are swapping for the private token will be refunded.
- Click on the “proceed to exchange” button to carry out the exchange.
- Take your time for leaving a review and rating the exchange. We care for making it better and would love to hear about your experience.
