Monero

Bitcoin

2026-10-01 00:57:35

Shielded Bitcoin proposal aims to add private transfers without changing Bitcoin

Bitcoin Magazine has highlighted a research proposal called Shielded Bitcoin, presented in a show featuring Misha Komorov, co-founder of Alloc Innit. The idea is to use zero-knowledge proofs to hide the sender, receiver, and amount in a Bitcoin transaction while avoiding changes to Bitcoin itself. According to the program description, the design does not rely on a soft fork, custodians, or bridges. The discussion covers how Bitcoin PIPEs could make the approach possible, along with open questions the proposal still needs to address. It also examines whether indexers and ZK rollups introduce trust assumptions, how Shielded Bitcoin compares with Monero and Zcash, what kinds of privacy it can and cannot protect, and the limits faced by early users when the privacy set is still small. Other topics in the episode include fees, block space, larger shielded transactions, and possible demand from users concerned about wrench attacks or from corporate treasuries. The show also touches on dark pools, governments, and the next wave of Bitcoin buyers. Bitcoin Magazine notes that Shielded Bitcoin remains a research proposal rather than a finished product. The post first appeared on Bitcoin Magazine and is credited to Patrick Green.

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Bitcoin

2026-09-25 09:06:57

CryptoQuant analyst says paper explores native privacy transactions on Bitcoin

CryptoQuant analyst Darkfost said a recent paper examines whether privacy transactions could be implemented directly on Bitcoin. According to his post, the idea would not require a soft fork and could be deployed on Bitcoin’s Layer 1, making privacy transactions a native feature of the network. Darkfost added that he is not a developer and does not have the technical background to assess the proposal in depth, but said he finds the concept compelling. He also said the approach could represent an important direction for Bitcoin’s evolution in line with Satoshi Nakamoto’s original vision, while potentially reducing the appeal of privacy-focused projects such as Zcash and Monero.

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Zcash

2026-09-22 10:06:39

Mert Mumtaz Says Zcash’s Rally Is About More Than Privacy

Zcash has climbed roughly 32% over the past week, reached about $1,595 on Sept. 19, and rose to No. 9 by market value, according to Unchained. While the most common explanation for the move is renewed interest in privacy coins, Helius co-founder and CEO Mert Mumtaz argued on the Sept. 21 episode of Unchained that privacy alone does not explain Zcash’s outperformance. In his view, the stronger case ties together privacy, store-of-value characteristics, scale, and quantum resistance. Mumtaz said a true store-of-value asset should minimize surprises, including regulatory surprises and questions around fungibility. He described privacy as one requirement inside a broader package rather than the sole driver. He also pointed to Zcash’s work on faster block times and a future upgrade aimed at full quantum resistance, noting that the network today is quantum-recoverable rather than quantum-proof. The article also highlighted a more concrete catalyst: Grayscale’s spot Zcash exchange-traded fund, ZCSH, listed on Aug. 25 and has drawn $233 million in inflows. At the same time, other privacy coins including Monero and Dash have also moved higher, suggesting a broader sector rotation. Mumtaz added that if privacy becomes common across chains, Zcash would need the fuller store-of-value thesis to keep its edge.

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Bitcoin

2026-09-21 08:39:26

Bitcoin nears $84,000 as lower oil prices lift crypto and broader risk assets

Bitcoin traded just below $84,000 on Monday, gaining nearly 2% over the past 24 hours and extending the rally that began late last week, according to CoinDesk data. The move came alongside a broader rise in risk assets, with S&P 500 futures up more than 0.5% and Nasdaq 100 contracts close to 1%, led by technology shares. In crypto, Monero’s XMR led major tokens with a 13% jump to nearly $588 before giving back 4% of that gain in the past hour. DOGE rose 5%, XRP added 4% to just above $1.45, and Ether, SOL, and HYPE each climbed about 3%. BNB and ZEC were up 2%, while TRX lagged with a gain of less than 1%. Oil prices were a key driver. Brent crude fell for a fourth straight session, its longest losing streak in three months, as traders watched diplomatic efforts tied to Washington and Tehran and the possible restoration of Middle East crude shipments. President Donald Trump told Fox News he would "probably" be open to meeting Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian at this week’s U.N. General Assembly. Lower energy prices have eased inflation concerns that have kept the Federal Reserve hawkish, while traders are also positioning ahead of a Trump-Xi summit later this week.

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Monero

2026-09-13 13:31:44

Monero persists after exchange delistings, leaning on mandatory privacy and community funding

Monero remains one of crypto’s clearest examples of uncompromising privacy, but that design has come with mounting distribution costs. The article reviews how XMR, launched in April 2014 from a Bytecoin fork, built its privacy model around ring signatures, stealth addresses, and RingCT, then replaced ring signatures with FCMP++ in January 2026. That upgrade expanded the anonymity set from 16 possible spenders to more than 150 million historical outputs while keeping proofs compact at roughly 3-4 KB. The report also traces the regulatory pressure behind exchange delistings. OKX removed XMR pairs in January 2024, Binance followed globally in February 2024, and Kraken expanded delistings across the European Economic Area by October 2024. By 2025, about 73 exchanges had removed Monero, including Coinbase and Bitstamp, as compliance frameworks such as MiCA and FATF travel rule requirements made mandatory privacy difficult for regulated platforms to support. Despite that, the piece argues Monero has not collapsed. It still relies on peer-to-peer and decentralized trading, a CPU-oriented RandomX mining model, and a community crowdfunding system that raised about $925,000 in 2025. With no company, board, or CEO behind it, Monero’s development and crisis response depend on volunteers and community coordination, a structure tested during the 2025 Qubic mining pool episode.

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Taiki Maeda

2026-09-12 03:38:08

Taiki Maeda says he remains all-in on Zcash after ZEC broke $1,000, citing ETF flows and a privacy thesis

Crypto trader and YouTube creator Taiki Maeda said in a Sept. 11 video that he is staying heavily positioned in Zcash even after ZEC moved above $1,000. In the video, summarized by MarsBit from a TechFlow compilation, Maeda said he now considers a portfolio of ZEC, HYPE, LIT and Variational mining to be his personal definition of being "locked in." He also disclosed that he holds long positions in ZEC, HYPE and LIT, continues to mine through Variational, and runs the paid Discord community HFA Premium. Maeda used the video to answer several recurring criticisms of Zcash on Chinese- and English-language crypto Twitter. He argued that Zcash has entered a reflexive phase in which rising prices increase the dollar value inside shielded pools, improving privacy for new entrants and drawing in more capital. He also pointed to what he described as newly opened institutional access: the SEC has dropped its lawsuit against Zcash Labs, a Zcash ETF is now trading, and its assets under management have exceeded $500 million. Maeda added that he has observed Zcash often starting to rise around the U.S. stock market open, which he interprets as an indirect sign of institutional buying. At the same time, he acknowledged the risks. Maeda said he historically has never actually held all the way to his price targets and tends to stop early, urging viewers to apply their own discount to his conviction and not treat his all-in stance as investment advice.

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ZEC

2026-09-09 08:51:10

ZEC Enters the Top 10 as Grayscale’s Long Game Meets Pushback From Chinese Crypto Veterans

Zcash’s native token, ZEC, has become one of the strongest performers in crypto, rising 130.9% over the past 30 days and 2252.0% over the past year, according to CoinGecko data cited in the source article. Its market capitalization has climbed to nearly $20 billion, overtaking DOGE and pushing ZEC into the global top 10 by market value. As of Sept. 9, ZEC accounted for more than 66.7% of the privacy-coin sector’s total market capitalization, while Glassnode said privacy is the only major crypto sector still above its October 2025 peak, up 213% from that level. The rally has also spilled into related assets such as ZCAT, and liquidations in ZEC markets have been led by short positions, including a large short on Hyperliquid linked to Garrett Jin. The move has split opinion. Overseas bulls including Balaji, Bitwise CIO Matt Hougan, Multicoin partner Tushar Jain, and crypto commentator Ansem have publicly backed ZEC, with Balaji calling for a $100,000 target. In contrast, Chinese-speaking market veterans and KOLs such as Wang Chun, Cobo CEO Shenyu, Jademont Zheng, Lanhu, and 0xTodd have questioned whether the rally reflects strong fundamentals. Their critiques cover Zcash’s founder rewards, governance disputes, the optional nature of privacy addresses, historical security concerns, and market structure. The article also traces Digital Currency Group and Grayscale’s involvement in Zcash from 2016 through mining, trust products, and the recent conversion of ZCSH into what the source describes as the first U.S. ETF directly tracking a privacy coin.

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ZachXBT

2026-09-09 03:35:57

ZachXBT accuses X user of converting stolen crypto into luxury goods

Blockchain investigator ZachXBT said on X that a user identified as "Mr Austin Fine," whose account is listed as "@xmrfine," converted stolen crypto belonging to victim Malone into luxury goods for a fee. ZachXBT also said the user "may have snitched." In a follow-up post, ZachXBT said he would treat the individual as "cut off" until the victim is compensated, adding that the matter would negatively affect all of the person’s current and future brand partnerships. ZachXBT later added that he had traced part of the funds on-chain, saying some of the money moved through Monero and was used to buy a car from Los Angeles luxury car dealer TBTFW. The statement was cited by ChainCatcher in a brief news update.

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