Two privacy coins, Zcash (ZEC) and Dash (DASH), are now supported by blockchain and analytics specialist Chainalysis - but it's the addition of the former that caused discussions online about privacy and responsibility.

Chainalysis launched support for Dash and Zcash in their investigation software Chainalysis Reactor, as well as in Know Your Transaction (KYT), said the announcement. This means that the two products will be tracking these privacy coins, enabling investigation into illicit activity. The two coins account for over USD 1.5 billion of reported daily trading volume, according to the firm.

The firm went on to say that the two coins enable greater privacy, "but that doesn’t mean they provide total anonymity," and the way they're built and used in real world allows for the investigation of suspicious activity. Dash has its optional, no-fee PrivateSend functionality, essentially a built-in mixer, but Dash transactions are unmixed by default. "This means from a technical standpoint, Dash’s privacy functionality is no greater than Bitcoin (BTC)’s, making the label of "privacy coin" a misnomer for Dash."

Zcash has zk-SNARKs, shielding (a process that allows users to encrypt blockchain activity), and shielded pools (a collection of encrypted addresses) - which are again optional. "By default, transactions don’t take place in a shielded pool and are public and unencrypted, similar to Bitcoin." Only 0.9% of all Zcash transactions are completely encrypted. They write that "though the obfuscation on Zcash is stronger due to the zk-SNARK encryption, Chainalysis can still provide the transaction value and at least one address for over 99% of ZEC activity," adding that "shielding is not bulletproof."

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https://cryptonews.com/news/optional-zcash-and-dash-features-prompt-debate-on-privacy-co-6774.htm

A Dutch Bitcoin (BTC) exchange has become one of the first casualties of a new regulatory procedure that requires many of the nation’s crypto-related companies to register with the central bank or close down.

The central bank, the De Nederlandsche Bank (DNB), has set a May 18 deadline for registration after the nation’s parliament voted in favor of adopting the EU’s anti-money laundering guidelines, as outlined by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF).

The long-running exchange, BitKassa, says that it will shut down on May 17, a day before the registration deadline. It also issued a scathing statement, decrying the government’s decision to impose “approximately USD 27,000 ([USD 5,400] registration fee plus almost [USD 21,600] in basic costs)” fees on all companies in 2020, “regardless of size.”

The FATF has stated that government financial regulators should enforce a compulsory registration system, not unlike that used in Japan, where over two dozen exchanges have registered with the regulator.

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https://cryptonews.com/news/ridiculous-registration-fees-force-dutch-bitcoin-exchange-o-6481.htm

- Some estimate that 40% of Bitcoin mining machines will be switched off in the first two weeks after the halving.
- Miners hope that some of their new methods will help to increase mining revenue.

The Bitcoin (BTC) halving is fast approaching, and already miners are swooping into action. Some are phasing out older mining hardware, while others are preparing to take equipment offline if the bitcoin price falls below certain thresholds after the halving.

But while the halving will obviously reduce mining rewards by 50% and a chunk of mining rigs will be turned off, miners hope to regain equilibrium in the event of any short-term volatility and bet on rising bitcoin prices.

Slower blocks and transactions for two weeks

As of writing, one bitcoin is worth around USD 7,170. Not bad, but it doesn’t sound like an awful lot when it is compared to an estimation by TradeBlock that the average cost of mining a single bitcoin stood at USD 6,851 in February and increased to USD 7,300 by the end of March.

At these prices, after the halving, it would cost miners almost USD 46,000 (again, on average) to earn the new BTC 6.25 block reward. This would leave successful (meaning, those we get the reward) miners with a loss of around USD 1,000 per block. As a reminder, there are around 144 blocks mined per day.

If hashrate and mining difficulty keep rising and miners swap their rigs with newer models (which obviously cost money to buy), things may end even worse than this after the halving. At the end of March, TradeBlock estimated that the gross cost of mining a single bitcoin might even reach USD 12,000 - USD 15,100.

More: https://cryptonews.com/exclusives/hopes-and-strategies-in-play-as-miners-prepare-for-bitcoin-h-6331.htm

One of Venezuela’s leading crypto exchanges says that government policy led it to develop a text message-powered payment system that will allow it to conduct transactions in a range of cryptoassets, including the nation’s own state-issued, oil-backed petro (PTR) token.

The Criptolago platform wrote, in a tweet,

“As per the guidelines of President Nicolás Maduro, our new SMS payments function has created an opportunity for all Venezuelan citizens to conduct petro transactions in a very practical manner.”

The solution, says the exchange, will not only allow customers to conduct petro transactions via text message, but also send fiat bolivars, as well as bitcoin (BTC), litecoin (LTC), dash (DASH) and the native token of Venezuelan “cryptobank” Glufco.

Critics in the country have complained that, as many older people and poorer citizens still make use of “second-gen” mobiles and have limited or no smartphone or broadband internet access, they have struggled to access petro welfare payouts.

Although this solution will unlikely provide a quick fix for the thousands of senior citizens and public sector workers who claim they have still not been able to access year-end petro payouts issued in December 2019, there are signs that Maduro’s government could be looking to extend the scope of its petro project.

A recent tweet from a pro-crypto group with links to Caracas containing a long list of suggested petro-powered solutions to the country’s coronavirus-related economic slump was criticized by many critics for perceived accessibility-related flaws.

The proposals contained a number of solutions linked to the Patria crypto remittance platform, which critics say is out of the reach of some 30% of the country. Almost a third of Venezuelans are believed to have very limited or no internet access.

... https://cryptonews.com/news/gov-t-policy-behind-venezuelan-bitcoin-exchange-s-sms-gatewa-6280.htm