The crypto investors’ blood seems to break out in a cold sweat with the ongoing discussion of a ban on private currencies in India by 2022. Does this mean no crypto trading in India and severe loss on crypto return? Honestly, it is too quick to make any prediction but what becomes a great concern here is, knowing your coins well, not just their names but the nature too. Yes, the bifurcations of crypto coins as private and the public have a lot to do with Indian crypto planning. So why not frame our basic knowledge structure before framing an opinion.
Public and Private Cryptocurrencies
The market flooded with several coins on distinct blockchain networks creates room for strong competition to prevail. The basic difference between these coins lies in their anonymity and privacy features. The public coins are the ones built on public blockchain making the transactions more traceable and linkable but focus lack of privacy, On the other hand, private coins are built on a blockchain network owned by an individual(s) and make the best use of stealth tactics to bridge the privacy gaps. Ideally, true privacy is a result of advanced cryptography this is why most cryptocurrencies do not offer any privacy features besides anonymity. This makes public coins the happy cryptocurrencies and possibly the end-users too.
Popular Public Cryptocurrencies
Most of the coins people invest in are built on the public blockchain networks and are not part of banning discussions in India so far. Some of the popular cryptocurrencies which are built of public blockchain networks are:
- Bitcoin: Being the first cryptocurrency Bitcoin certainly paved the way towards creating bright investment culture. The transactions here are completely traceable and linkable by design.
- Litecoin: In comparison to Bitcoin, Litecoin offers an improved transaction mechanism in respect to its storage and rates. Thus, Litecoin is all about bridging the gaps that prevail in the Bitcoin networks except privacy which remains common in both.
- Ripple: Ideally, the XRP token was developed for profound use on Ripple Exchange but also supports other cryptocurrencies. Later these coins were pre-mined and promoted away owing to their resilience feature.
- Ethereum: Along with Bitcoin, Ethereum is the most popular public cryptocurrency with multiple-use cases beyond financial transactions. It is also seen as the best alternative for Bitcoin and also does not offer any special feature, unlike private coins.
Popular Private Cryptocurrencies
The private coins are public upto the greatest extend, except their default transaction hiding feature. This is what has made private cryptocurrencies the debatable matter in the cryptosphere as people are now able to draw a difference between two important terms- secrecy and privacy. So, isn’t it important to be aware of these private currencies which are expected to the part of India’s s cryptocurrency bill in 2022?
- Monero: Being the private coin Monero provides two major privacy features in the form of Ring Confidential Transactions (RingCT) and Ring signatures. These make transaction tracing difficult for unauthorized parties. Moreover, consider providing advanced privacy by obscuring transaction amounts.
- DASH: It was the first privacy–driven cryptocurrency which was formerly known as Darkcoin and prevent transaction tracing with the help of a technique called coin mixing. On the other hand, the dependency of coins on master nodes makes it quite unsafe if you do not trust the master nodes’ operator.
- ZCash: This private coin essentially works on the idea of erasing the memory( transaction history ). Similar to Monero and Particl, ZCash obfuscates transaction history and discourages traceability of the transactions. Moreover, it brings an advanced cryptographic technique known as zk- SNARKs to the use and extends its use cases beyond currency matters.
- Particl: PART is a token that was created by Particl for the decentralized marketplace. It comes with an enhanced privacy protocol called CT and Ring CT. Like Monero these are untraceable and unlikable providing an additional layer of privacy to ensure seamless switching. To be noted, here the owner’s control remains intact.
Final Words
Oftentimes, cryptocurrencies are imagined with privacy but in reality, it only requires a basic level of pseudonymity. So, private coins which are focused on providing privacy by allowing obscuration of transactions sound more like developing an opaque trading environment. As a result, public coins become the major point of attraction for investors in the cryptosphere. In that case, even if Indian authorities are expected to ban private currencies, the entire crypto ecosystem shall still be the attractive catch owing to public cryptocurrencies. So, find out what your crypto coins look like in nature before you haste and waste your crypto portfolios.