Anonymous Bitcoin: the project for an obscure coin fork
It is commendable to see developers take a different approach when it comes to dealing with Bitcoin and privacy. More specifically, most cryptocurrency users are all too aware of how Bitcoin itself is neither private nor anonymous by any means. While some government officials may claim otherwise, anyone can see that Bitcoin is not the tool with which to hide one’s financial activity. Even so, there is a growing demand to bring more privacy to Bitcoin itself.
The project is titled Anonymous Bitcoin, and the Anonymous Bitcoin team intends to succeed where prior forks have failed while also adding unique technology to already tried and true blockchains. The co-fork will occur using BTC and ZCL, so in order to obtain the new forked coin, Anonymous Bitcoin, one would have to purchase either BTC or ZCL before the date of fork snapshot.
What makes this upcoming hard fork so interesting is that it combines aspects of Bitcoin and ZClassic. ZClassic itself is a fork of Zcash, a currency primarily focused on privacy. When forks create new forks, we are living in the Forkening itself. Even so, Anonymous Bitcoin will offer zkSNARKs technology to facilitate anonymous transactions. Additionally, it will introduce faster transactions by increasing the overall block size, similar to what Bitcoin Cash is doing.
As one would almost expect by now, Anonymous Bitcoin will also offer a masternode feature to let users stake their coins and make a profit from providing valuable network services. It seems most cryptocurrencies focusing on privacy and anonymity rely on masternodes to a certain extent, although there are always some exceptions. It will be interesting to see if this business model benefits BTCA in the long run.
The Anonymous Bitcoin testnet will go live August 10, providing a month for exchanges to test the wallets and infrastructure before the snapshot occurs on September 9, 2018. The mainnet will be live within 48 hours of snapshot allowing for swift integration onto exchange platforms. Exchange listing and targeting ones with significant volume are one of the most important features of a new coin beyond utility and technology.
As is always the case, it remains to be seen whether or not there will be any interest in Anonymous Bitcoin. Given the upcoming addition of privacy features to Bitcoin itself – albeit with no official timeline – it is doubtful too many people will pay attention to this upcoming fork. Even so, there is a genuine demand for privacy and anonymity where cryptocurrencies are concerned. It is likely we will see another massive ZClassic price pump as the airdrop of BTCA draws near.