IncaKoin(NKA)

In the competitive landscape of cryptocurrency presales, BlockDAG Network distinguishes itself not just with its technical prowess but also through its strategic market positioning. While eTukTuk leverages its partnership with the Capital Maharaja Group to revolutionize electric transportation in Sri Lanka, and Poodl Inu captivates the meme coin community with […]

Ashok Venkateswaran questions CBDC adoption due to insufficient justification, making broad adoption difficult.

Web3 has caused those involved to view the world differently.  While they are standard foundations now, the thought of having a globally available, borderless and government-less currency would have been unthinkable just a short time ago.

Bubblemaps, CoinScan, Hinkal Protocol, and Mythic Protocol are among the latest crypto and blockchain funding deals.

[PRESS RELEASE – Please Read Disclaimer] Zeebu, the innovative blockchain-based settlement platform for the telecom carrier industry, has successfully raised $25 million in a presale funding round, surpassing its hard cap target of $15 million. The round saw participation from several strategic investors, including Bankai Ventures. The market’s enthusiasm for Zeebu’s groundbreaking on-chain invoice settlement […]

Zeebu, the innovative blockchain-based settlement platform for the telecom carrier industry, has successfully raised $25 million in a presale funding round, surpassing its hard cap target of $15 million. The round saw participation from several strategic investors, including Bankai Ventures.

[PRESS RELEASE – Tallinn, Estonia, August 24th, 2023] Cryptocurrency exchange and wallet provider Connectee has launched Card to Crypto acquiring allowing users to instantly top up their crypto balances with Visa or Mastercard. This new feature provides a seamless fiat-to-crypto onramp by eliminating the need for wire transfers or manual bank account linkages. The Card […]

According to Latvijas Banka, 4% of the population bought crypto assets in February, down from 8% in 2022, while payments “continue to prevail.”

San Francisco, USA, August 2nd, 2023, ChainwireLBank Labs Summer Bootcamp is proud to announce the successful completion of its competition, bringing together the brightest minds from esteemed University Blockchain Clubs worldwide. LBank Labs, a leading player in the web3 space with a $100AUM fund launched at the end of 2022, hosted the competition to foster innovation and drive collaboration among students in the blockchain and cryptocurrency industry.With a diverse pool of participants from various universities and regions, LBank Labs showcased its commitment to nurturing talent and promoting cutting-edge developments in the blockchain ecosystem. Leveraging its experienced team of web3 veterans hailing from prestigious entities such as Binance Labs, Binance NFT, Bitmain, Huobi Listing teams, and Consensys, LBank Labs has built an extensive network of expertise and connections that go beyond specific protocols and exchanges.The summer bootcamp's investment strategy focuses on fund-of-fund investments, direct investments in early-stage projects, and liquid projects, enabling exploration of diverse opportunities in the rapidly evolving crypto landscape. The program has already made significant strides in setting a high standard of excellence by collaborating with top educational institutions and promising innovators worldwide.The competition, which was launched over three months ago, garnered an overwhelming response, with more than 70+ teams submitting their projects for a chance to win an exclusive trip of a lifetime to Cabo San Lucas. The prize included coveted mentorship opportunities from some of the most esteemed crypto funds in the world, including Generative Ventures, BAI Capital, Youbi Capital, Stake Capital, and Web3 Ventures, among others.The participating student teams hailed from prestigious institutions such as Harvard, MIT, Duke, Stanford, Cornell, UPenn, Imperial College of London, Taras Shevchenko University of Kyiv, Istanbul Technical University, Tokyo University, HSG St. Gallen in Switzerland, Goethe University Germany, and many more, representing a global spectrum of talent and creativity.The winning student teams were meticulously selected by LBank Labs' senior researchers, who possess extensive expertise in cryptography, token design, decentralized computing, and infrastructure. The quality of submissions was exceptional, reflecting the program's ability to attract top-notch projects and minds eager to make a significant impact in the blockchain industry."We are thrilled with the remarkable response and the exceptional talent that participated in our Summer Bootcamp competition," said Valeria Kholostenko, Principal at LBank Labs. "It is inspiring to witness the passion and innovation that these young minds bring to the table. As LBank Labs, we remain dedicated to empowering the next generation of blockchain leaders and supporting groundbreaking projects that will shape the future of the web3 ecosystem."LBank Labs Summer Bootcamp 2023 Winning Teams:Lila Finance, Carnegie Mellon University. Fixed income DeFi Markets saving, lending, and market making. https://www.lila.finance/AminoChain, Columbia University. AminoChain is a platform that provides integrated & seamless Web 3.0 capabilities to Biobanks & Medical Research Bodies. https://aminochain.io/Zcaptcha, Columbia University. ZKaptcha makes novel use of zero-knowledge cryptography and AI to generate powerful primitives to generate user interactions, empowering protocols and dApps to confidently onboard new users and thrive in the decentralized landscape. https://docs.zkaptcha.xyz/Crossify, Istanbul Technical University, https://www.crossify.xyz/. Payment gateway that simplifies the complexities of crypto payments for both buyers and sellers.Headquarters, Singapore Management University. Unified dashboard for Web3 founders to get visibility and control over their treasury.https://www.hq.xyz/Hinkal, Stanford. Embedded privacy of on-chain assets and transactions. https://hinkal.pro/VPN3, Stanford. AI-Powered Decentralized VPN3 https://www.hotspotvpn.io/0xblu, Stanford. Smart Wallet for Web3 powered by ERC 4337. https://www.0xblu.com/Mexiverse, Universidad Panamericana. http://mexiverse.net/ Indigenous art enhanced with NFTs.Crecy, National Autonomous University of Mexico.Crecy is the first crypto-backed credit card in LATAMhttps://www.crecy.io/Kryptik, Carnegie Mellon University. Kryptik is an open-source wallet for the decentralized web https://www.kryptik.app/Cashstream. Dartmouth College. CashStream is a blockchain-based solution for initiating recurring SaaS payments, paid out by the second. https://cashstreamcrypto.com/XLetter, Ewha Womans University, Yonsei University, Sungkyunkwan University. https://www.xletter.io/WalletZK, Leiden and Hanse University, Groningen, Netherlands. The First Smart Contract Wallet on Mina Protocol.https://www.walletzk.app/Nodekit, University of Wisconsin.Building the Next Generation of Rollups https://www.nodekit.xyz/Aegis Protocol, Harvard University, MIT, Duke University. Aegis is a decentralized consumer protection layer for blockchain transactions. aegisprotocol.ioTeams will be joined by mentors and leads from LBank Labs in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico.About LBank LabsLBank Labs is a prominent player in the web3 space, managing a versatile $100 Million fund that extends beyond specific protocols and exchanges. The firm's team comprises experienced web3 veterans from renowned entities such as Binance Labs, Binance NFT, Bitmain, Huobi Listing teams, and Consensys. With a focus on fund of fund investments, direct investments in early-stage projects, and liquid projects, LBank Labs aims to explore diverse opportunities and drive innovation in the blockchain industry.ContactLBank [email protected]

Singapore, Singapore, August 1st, 2023, ChainwireLaunchpad delivers 142.4% ROI YTD thanks to carefully curated selection of AI projectsLeading IDO launchpad, Enjinstarter, announced today that its stable of AI-powered Web3 projects has earned investors an average ROI of 142.4% YTD in 2023. This puts Enjinstarter firmly in the top 3 of IDO providers worldwide, according to industry-leading ranking service, CryptoRank.Continued success in Q2 comes on the back of a successful Q1 in which Enjinstarter was ranked by TokenHunter as the top-performing IDO launchpad with an average ROI of 538.49%.“Our number one goal is to deliver maximum value to our IDO participants. We conduct an exhaustive study of every launchpad applicant to bring our token holders a carefully curated selection of projects set to revolutionize the industry,” said Prakash Somosundram, co-founder and CEO of Enjinstarter. “At the beginning of the year, our team correctly identified the growing trend towards generative AI and was quick to adapt. Our overall success this year can be attributed to our team’s ability to find the best among a proliferation of AI-powered Web3 projects.”2023 has been the year of AI. The continued evolution of OpenAI’s GPT algorithm has led to a proliferation of generative AI-powered apps. Of the 13 IDOs conducted by Enjinstarter so far this year, 8 leverage the power of AI:ChainGPT - Infrastructure enabling the future of Web3 innovation with AIOrbofi AI - Advanced platform for creating AI-generated content and fine-tuned AI models.Eldarune - AI-powered RPG with PvE and PvP modesCogito Protocol - A decentralized and AI-driven tracercoin called GCOINKAIF Platform - AI-powered decentralized society (DeSoc) platform.HyperGPT - A Web3-based AI marketplaceDexCheck - AI-boosted analytics for crypto and NFT tradingSophiaVerse - An advanced artificial general intelligence initiative revolutionizing the world of AI and gamingThe top performing IDO launched through Enjinstarter in 2023 is ChainGPT with an ROI of 704% at the time of writing. SophiaVerse is a close second at 602%. Data provided by CryptoRank.Building on the success of its IDO launchpad, Enjinstarter plans to build two additional launchpads. The first is an INO platform to connect utility-driven NFT projects with investors. The second is a platform specifically designed for Web3 climate startups to raise funds from impact investors.Looking ahead, Enjinstarter has 5 IDO projects in the pipeline: SeaPad, Kvants AI, Boss Fighters, AITECH, and Backstage. It is also planning the release of an expansive storytelling AI NFT game based on an advanced earth concept where factions are embarking on quests and battles throughout the Enjinstarter ecosystem to gather resources and earn rewards.To date, the company has helped launch over 80 Web3 projects and platforms since its inception in 2021.For further media enquiries, please contact:[email protected] EnjinstarterLaunched in 2021, Enjinstarter is a next-generation ecosystem and launchpad for promising Web3 gaming, entertainment and metaverse projects. They have supported 70 companies sinceinception. They have a collective community of more than 200,000 across various social platforms and manage localised communities in South East Asia, India, Turkey and Spain. They have also launched dedicated market-launchers for North America and Indonesia.Enjinstarter also has a fast growing Web3 Innovation Consulting practice that works with brands, large corporates and Web2 companies looking to develop a Web3 strategy. Clients that they have supported include Hatten Land and GCEX. Enjinstarter is also a member of the Open Metaverse Alliance.Enjinstarter raised US$5 million in their Series A round from True Global Ventures 4 Plus, an equity venture capital firm that invests in serial tech entrepreneurs globally. The company has also received initial approval from Dubai’s Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority, indicating progress in obtaining full permission to operate within Dubai.Get connected with Enjinstarter:https://linktr.ee/enjinstarterContactSocial Media LeadChris Sylvester [email protected]

More developments in the FTX saga, where the former CEO of the now-defunct crypto exchange has come under fire for conducting an interview with the New York Times, which prosecutors have claimed amounts to witness tampering. He has been put under a gag order which prevents him from discussing the case publicly. Let’s find out more. Bitcoin Democratic presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. confirmed his recent purchase of a significant amount of Bitcoin earlier this year. Wednesday’s announcement of the widely expected 25 basis point rise in the interest rate led to a higher move in cryptocurrencies. A team of Bitcoin developers and enthusiasts have introduced the "Frostsnap" method to provide multisig wallets with a range of new capabilities. DeFi The Bank of Italy's Milano Hub innovation center will support a project spearheaded by Cetif Advisory that aims to develop a security token ecosystem for institutional DeFi. DeFi protocol Parrot Finance will begin implementing an activist investor-led plan to phase out the platform’s PRT token, with redemptions set to begin as early as Monday. Altcoins An obscure altcoin called the X token has surged by over 1000% following Elon Musk’s announcement that Twitter is rebranding itself to X.com. Technology Bridge Protocol LayerZero has revealed that it has achieved a significant landmark, crossing 50 million cross-chain messages. Archax, a leading global digital asset exchange, broker, and custodian, has unveiled its latest offering: a crypto exchange designed specifically for institutional investors. Avalanche Foundation has earmarked a whopping $50M to acquire assets that are tokenized on its blockchain. The highly controversial Arkham Intel Exchange has approved its first-ever bounty hunt, with crypto sleuths set to go after crypto wallets belonging to Terra co-founder Do Kwon. Business Venture capital firm, Sequoia Capital, has cut its cryptocurrency fund by over 65% from $585 million to $200 million. Bankrupt crypto lender Celsius Network has reached two crucial settlements to end its bankruptcy proceedings and clear a path for the return of customer assets. Flashbots, an Ethereum software infrastructure provider, has raised $60 million from venture capitalists and other prominent players from the blockchain ecosystem. Cryptocurrency exchange KuCoin has responded to recent rumors about mass layoffs within the company, clarifying that the adjustments to its headcount are part of routine organizational development. Deloitte and Chainalysis have joined forces in a strategic alliance to tackle compliance challenges within the digital asset ecosystem. BlackRock and India’s Jio Financial Services will soon enter a joint venture to launch a “digital-first offering” in India. Crypto derivatives and copy trading platform Bitget announced the listing of its native token BGB on the renowned cryptocurrency exchange MEXC. Regulation The South Korean Financial Services Commission's (FSC) decision to seize Delio’s assets cast doubts over its future operations. In a recent statement, the SEC claimed that the recent Ripple ruling was incorrect while disclosing that it has already decided and is currently moving in to post an appeal. The United States Federal Reserve has officially launched its new instant payment system, dubbed FedNow, to modernize and streamline the United States’ payment system. FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried has agreed to a gag order that prevents him from publicly discussing his case after prosecutors alleged he was discrediting their witness, Caroline Ellison. Changpeng Zhao and other defendants associated with the Binance crypto exchange plan to appeal to the court to dismiss a lawsuit from the CFTC. Worldcoin, the high-tech cryptocurrency initiative supported by Sam Altman, might soon be under the scrutiny of data protection regulators in the UK. The Republic of Namibia pivots on its crypto stance by introducing a law regulating the digital asset industry, ending the country’s total ban on cryptocurrencies. Block.one, a significant investor in the blockchain industry, is now under fire from the EOS Network Foundation (ENF) for purportedly defaulting on its $1 billion investment commitment. Blockchain security firm Quantstamp is under scrutiny from the SEC for conducting an unregistered initial coin offering (ICO) in 2017. The United States House Financial Services Committee passed two crucial bills that could pave the way for regulatory clarity. The SEC has intensified its oversight of financial institutions that use AI and predictive algorithms. Democrat Congressman Brad Sherman said on Wednesday during a key congressional committee that only the US government has the right to print money out of thin air. The United States Senate has passed an $886 billion military spending bill with strict anti-money laundering provisions for cryptocurrency. In a letter addressed to the SEC, Grayscale Investments has appealed for the equal treatment of all spot Bitcoin ETFs. Singapore-based crypto exchange Crypto.com announced it obtained registration with the central bank of the Netherlands, De Nederlandsche Bank (DNB). The Supreme Court of India came down heavily on the central government, expressing displeasure over the lack of a clear law or regulations regarding cryptocurrencies. NFT NFT art gallery Bright Moments held its live minting event at the Gotham store, one of New York City's "luxury" cannabis dispensaries. CyberKongz partners with Axie Infinity’s creator Sky Mavis to migrate its existing Play and Kollect NFT game and mint the new Genkai NFT collection on the Ronin chain. Web3 CEO Mark Zuckerberg remains hopeful about the company’s metaverse prospects despite sinking $3.7 billion in operating losses in the second quarter of this year. Japan is set to embrace Web3 technology with the backing of major companies like Fujitsu and Mitsubishi, going beyond just entertainment and gaming. The Binance crypto exchange platform is set to start operations for Japanese customers, according to an announcement from CEO Changpeng Zhao. Security Crypto payments platform CoinsPaid believes North Korean Lazarus Group was behind the hack that saw $37 million stolen from the platform. Disclaimer: This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.

"If large stablecoins are linked to some other currency, there is a risk of dollarization," RBI Deputy Governor Rabi Sankar has said.

Merkle Science CEO Mriganka Pattnaik has offered a “contrarian” take, explaining that crypto firms won't be vanishing from the United States anytime soon.

G20 also aims to bring together global economies to fight debt distress and hyperinflation in smaller economies such as Sri Lanka and Ghana.

According to my meticulous calculations, we are about 3,542 to-be-mined Bitcoin blocks away from the lifting of the red, velvet curtain at the Crypto movie premiere on 12 April. That means approximately 44,280 Bitcoin will be rewarded between now and the premiere, and at current market prices, that cryptocurrency cornucopia could be worth some USD 175.3 million – a not-so-paltry sum that would actually be a nice global box office rake for this fintech flick. Lionsgate Home Entertainment might agree with me. You see, a closer examination of Crypto’s production team reveals that Lionsgate is the big name distributing the movie to US theatres. Yes – that Lionsgate! With thematic thespian thrillers including American Psycho, Crash, The Bank Job, Divergent, and Robin Hood as titles in their hallowed Hollywood history, Crypto could logically be the next blockbuster-to-be in that series. Perhaps Patrick Bateman checks his digital wallet every morning after doing 1,000 crunches, or maybe Jason Statham’s Terry Leather character is now drilling into safety deposit boxes looking for crypto enthusiasts’ 24 seed words. It’s a damn good thing US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin occupies his present position in a building adjacent to Donald Trump’s White House. In a not-so-distant past, Mnuchin founded Dune Entertainment which financed the X-Men franchise and Avatar. He also served as Executive Producer of The Lego Movie, American Sniper, Entourage, and Wonder Woman, among many notable others. Had he not taken the road less taken, Mnuchin could be the one producing Crypto, rather than advocating cryptocurrency regulations at the Group of Twenty. The irony is almost too thick to contemplate and appreciate. While we’re on the subject of the glowing New Yorker who inhabits the building next to Mnuchin’s office, is it my imagination or does the 2-minute, 17-seconds trailer for Crypto resemble certain aspects of the slow motion train crash-of-a-movie at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue that the entire world is tuned into every day? Let’s start with the obvious and see what we can easily glean from this trailer. In the opening scene of the trailer, Kurt Russell – looking like a withered scarecrow – solicits help in a farm field from a sharply-dressed mystery man with a lipworm who seconds later appears to be sitting behind a monitor and evaluating an ICO called Delta Coin. Incidentally, a quick review of Etherscan suggests there actually is a token called Delta Coin with a total supply of 5,000,000,000 DTC that is held by a mere six addresses. With the most recent transaction some 176 days ago, we may have to wait for the full movie to learn if the token was created for the movie. Alas, I digress. We soon learn that the Wall Street wunderkind was at the top of his class at – ahem – Wharton, before engaging in crypto due diligence and that Mr Lipworm prevented his firm from transacting business with a large counterparty, leading to pre-release speculation that Mr Lipworm might be infiltrating financial institutions as an undercover investigator. Moments later, our protagonist gets reassigned to a role in Albany, New York, that oft-forgotten, upstate New York micropolitan-of-a-state-capital where BitLicense was created by the New York State Department of Financial Services, much to the recent satisfaction of Robinhood Crypto and Libertyx. Donald Trump’s ongoing feud with policymakers in Albany and prosecutors in the Southern District of New York is not lost upon those of us on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean either. We soon learn that Mr Lipworm is indeed an Anti-Money Laundering Officer and after bro-hugging it out with a childhood friend, Mr Lipworm is next browsing a digital wallet where he encounters USD 10,463,502 million(!!!) in cryptocurrency. Assuming principal photography for Crypto took place in 2018, many of us might consider USD 10 million to be a slow week of ICO deal-making, practically a blip on the radar that even the flimsiest of unicorns-to-be or tenbaggers could relegate to “Chump Change” in the Use of Proceeds sections of their white papers. My, how times have changed! Mr Lipworm next apprises his AMLO apprentice that there is – gasp – no KYC or AML associated with the digital wallet they are scrutinising. A few bad Brooklyn accents later (is there such as thing as a good Brooklyn accent?), our hero is video conferencing with the Office of Foreign Assets Control and informing them of a “serious problem” involving money laundering by the Russian mafia. While we don’t see the action in the short clip, it is quite possible that the agent on the other end of the video conference marched right into Mnuchin’s Treasury office and informed our resident movie buff-cum-Treasury Secretary that Russia was evading US sanctions – in Albany, New York of all places. Crypto’s trailer doesn’t reveal whether the laundered money was to be used to purchase a penthouse in Trump’s scuttled Trump Tower Moscow project. In life-imitating-art creative liberty, many readers and viewers may be hoping that Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation might arrive at that exact conclusion. Again, I digress. A couple of hayseeds soon find a napkin with a threatening note about an upcoming meeting and are forewarned that “COPS = RIP.” We can only guess that the good law enforcement agents of New York State are not loading up on XRP (Ripple) in their public pensions. Some sort of kidnapping – it’s a bit unclear if Kurt Russell himself is being used as cryptobait – soon transpires and we next see a couple of gangsters working their magic on someone’s neck with a stun gun. Whilst we do not hear their accents in the trailer, the credits to the movie list an Olga N. Bogdanova as a Russian dialect coach, so one can only assume that Mr Goldie Hawn was jacked from his upstate farm and shanghaied to Grozny or Siberia – or maybe that was Poughkeepsie. A few opaque plot twists later do little to reveal the denouement, so we can wrap this trailer analysis without a spoiler alert. Back when Donald Trump was just getting started in giving New York City’s skyline a facelift, Gordon Gekko taught us that “Greed is Good.” A bit underwhelming by comparison Crypto’s tagline is that “Fear is the Ultimate Currency.” The motion picture’s rating forewarns us that there are violence, sexuality, and drug use. Naturally there is! How else could a cryptocurrency trader make it through a 7-day trading week without some fisticuffs, a gratuitous orgy or three, and some booger sugar? While we likely won’t see cameos by Don Jr, Ivanka, or Kushner, Trumpgate may not be too far from moviegoers’ minds at times. Maybe Mr Lipworm is the OFAC stable pony who manages to find collusion with the Russians after all. Let’s just hope Goldie remembers where Kurt keeps his seed words.

The Authorities in Turkey have announced that bitcoin is not in accordance with the Islamic religion and has warned their citizens against buying the most powerful crypto currency. The Directorate of Religious Affairs said “Cryptocurrency is widely used for nefarious and illegal activities, and is not sufficiently regulated, making it far more volatile than other currencies.” “Buying and selling virtual currencies is not compatible with religion at this time because of the fact that their valuation is open to speculation, they can be easily used in illegal activities like money laundering and they are not under the state’s audit and surveillance,” According to the Turkish media, the religious body took a decision on the digital currency at a meeting last week. The citizens of Turkey still invested in bitcoin, even with these warnings from the government. This has also lead criminals to capitalize on the rise in the currencies value with one wealthy man been captured and was forced to hand over his 450 bitcoins, worth around $3.34 million, at the time. As bitcoin gets even more popular and keeps rising the president of Turkey’s Central Bank said “that research is taking place into cryptocurrencies more generally”. Murat Cetinkaya said “such digital currencies could contribute to financial stability,” according to Bitcoin.com. I know a lot of people will think that religion should play no part of your own finances. Is Turkey trying to protect the religious beliefs of their citizens or control them?.

The Authorities in Turkey have announced that bitcoin is not in accordance with the Islamic religion and has warned their citizens against buying the most powerful crypto currency. The Directorate of Religious Affairs said “Cryptocurrency is widely used for nefarious and illegal activities, and is not sufficiently regulated, making it far more volatile than other currencies.” “Buying and selling virtual currencies is not compatible with religion at this time because of the fact that their valuation is open to speculation, they can be easily used in illegal activities like money laundering and they are not under the state’s audit and surveillance,” According to the Turkish media, the religious body took a decision on the digital currency at a meeting last week. The citizens of Turkey still invested in bitcoin, even with these warnings from the government. This has also lead criminals to capitalize on the rise in the currencies value with one wealthy man been captured and was forced to hand over his 450 bitcoins, worth around $3.34 million, at the time. As bitcoin gets even more popular and keeps rising the president of Turkey’s Central Bank said “that research is taking place into cryptocurrencies more generally”. Murat Cetinkaya said “such digital currencies could contribute to financial stability,” according to Bitcoin.com. I know a lot of people will think that religion should play no part of your own finances. Is Turkey trying to protect the religious beliefs of their citizens or control them?.

The Lightning Network is often viewed as the holy grail when it comes to scaling Bitcoin to many more transactions per second, but questions remain as to how well the current version of this layer-two network can preserve or improve user privacy. During the Scaling Bitcoin workshop at Stanford University over the weekend, Zcash co-founder Ian Miers presented on the Lightning Network’s privacy issues and a potential solution to these problems. Privacy Issues with the Lightning Network At first, it may appear that the Lightning Network would provide improved financial privacy by default because transactions are mostly taken off of the public Bitcoin blockchain; however, Miers explained that the aggregate payment data is really all that matters to an observer. “It doesn’t matter I’m telling you that I’m paying a psychiatrist every week for $500; it matters if you know that I’m paying the psychiatrist regularly at all,” said Miers. Miers added that the situation does get better in a payment channel network (as opposed to a simple payment channel between two parties) because then an observer can only see a user’s entry point to the network. Having said that, Miers also pointed out that problems still exist in payment channel networks such as the Lightning Network. In short, the payment hubs or colluding nodes on the network can learn about a specific user’s transaction activity. “If you have a path in the network and all of the peers on the path collude, they can identify you,” explained Miers. “They can do this via direct collusion, [or] they can do this via correlation after the fact. You don’t really get strong privacy from this model.” A Centralized Lightning Network May Provide Less Privacy Than Bitcoin Itself Miers went on to explain that the privacy problems found in the Lightning Network become much worse when the topology of the network is centralized. In this situation, collusion or coordination between nodes is not necessary because the centralized node already knows everything. The level of centralization that will be found in the Lightning Network has been subject to debate since the concept was first announced. An article exploring this debate can be found over at Bitcoin Magazine. In Miers’s view, a centralized setup would provide a level of privacy lower than what is already available via traditional payment systems. In fact, Miers went as far as to say a centralized Lightning Network would provide worse privacy than the base Bitcoin blockchain. “The situation gets a little worse for Bitcoin because it’s not likely to be some regulated or vaguely regulated entity like Visa or financial institutions, which have (admittedly thin) rules on what they can do with your personal data, [that acts as a Lightning Network hub],” said Miers. “It’s going to be: insert your favorite sketchy exchange here.” Reasons for on-chain transactions being more private than a centralized Lightning Network provided by Miers included: The creation of multiple identities for on-chain transactions is free, while new identities on the Lightning Network require a user to lock up funds into escrow. To gain the fee-related benefits of the Lightning Network, identities must also be long-lived. Some Lightning Network hubs may also decide to implement policies related to Know Your Customer (KYC) and Anti Money Laundering (AML) regulations. This would mean a real-world identity is also attached to one of these long-lasting pseudonyms. “Even if there’s not [KYC/AML], it’s a long-term pseudonym, and it’s quite easy to figure out and link these to your actual, real-world identity,” said Miers. “You use the payment channel network once to make a payment to Amazon and they ship you a product, well, now someone knows the linkage on this stuff if they collude.” Miers added that the privacy issues associated with payment channels are not even solved with something like Zcash because there are still long-term pseudonyms attached to the off-chain activity. A Solution to These Privacy Issues As one potential solution to the Lightning Network’s privacy issues, Miers pointed to a project called Bolt, which is based on a paper (PDF) he co-authored with fellow Zcash scientist and Johns Hopkins Associate Professor of Computer Science Matthew Green. With Bolt, Lightning Network-esque payments can be sent through intermediary nodes without revealing the participants in the transaction or their associated payment channel balances. These features are achieved through the use of zero-knowledge proofs. “All you have to do is do a zero-knowledge proof that [says], ‘Look, this [valid signature] exists, I’m not going to tell you the balance, and here’s the new thing that differs by five dollars,’” explained Miers. According to Miers, everything about the off-chain transactions, including payment values and participants, is hidden from the blockchain. Miers added that Bolt could be added to Bitcoin or Zcash via a soft fork or hard fork through the addition of a new opcode. “The one caveat to this is that in Bitcoin you need to be able to anonymize the funding of the channel,” Miers clarified. Without an anonymous funding mechanism, the last payment associated with a particular channel can be linked to the original funding of the channel.

The Lightning Network is often viewed as the holy grail when it comes to scaling Bitcoin to many more transactions per second, but questions remain as to how well the current version of this layer-two network can preserve or improve user privacy. During the Scaling Bitcoin workshop at Stanford University over the weekend, Zcash co-founder Ian Miers presented on the Lightning Network’s privacy issues and a potential solution to these problems. Privacy Issues with the Lightning Network At first, it may appear that the Lightning Network would provide improved financial privacy by default because transactions are mostly taken off of the public Bitcoin blockchain; however, Miers explained that the aggregate payment data is really all that matters to an observer. “It doesn’t matter I’m telling you that I’m paying a psychiatrist every week for $500; it matters if you know that I’m paying the psychiatrist regularly at all,” said Miers. Miers added that the situation does get better in a payment channel network (as opposed to a simple payment channel between two parties) because then an observer can only see a user’s entry point to the network. Having said that, Miers also pointed out that problems still exist in payment channel networks such as the Lightning Network. In short, the payment hubs or colluding nodes on the network can learn about a specific user’s transaction activity. “If you have a path in the network and all of the peers on the path collude, they can identify you,” explained Miers. “They can do this via direct collusion, [or] they can do this via correlation after the fact. You don’t really get strong privacy from this model.” A Centralized Lightning Network May Provide Less Privacy Than Bitcoin Itself Miers went on to explain that the privacy problems found in the Lightning Network become much worse when the topology of the network is centralized. In this situation, collusion or coordination between nodes is not necessary because the centralized node already knows everything. The level of centralization that will be found in the Lightning Network has been subject to debate since the concept was first announced. An article exploring this debate can be found over at Bitcoin Magazine. In Miers’s view, a centralized setup would provide a level of privacy lower than what is already available via traditional payment systems. In fact, Miers went as far as to say a centralized Lightning Network would provide worse privacy than the base Bitcoin blockchain. “The situation gets a little worse for Bitcoin because it’s not likely to be some regulated or vaguely regulated entity like Visa or financial institutions, which have (admittedly thin) rules on what they can do with your personal data, [that acts as a Lightning Network hub],” said Miers. “It’s going to be: insert your favorite sketchy exchange here.” Reasons for on-chain transactions being more private than a centralized Lightning Network provided by Miers included: The creation of multiple identities for on-chain transactions is free, while new identities on the Lightning Network require a user to lock up funds into escrow. To gain the fee-related benefits of the Lightning Network, identities must also be long-lived. Some Lightning Network hubs may also decide to implement policies related to Know Your Customer (KYC) and Anti Money Laundering (AML) regulations. This would mean a real-world identity is also attached to one of these long-lasting pseudonyms. “Even if there’s not [KYC/AML], it’s a long-term pseudonym, and it’s quite easy to figure out and link these to your actual, real-world identity,” said Miers. “You use the payment channel network once to make a payment to Amazon and they ship you a product, well, now someone knows the linkage on this stuff if they collude.” Miers added that the privacy issues associated with payment channels are not even solved with something like Zcash because there are still long-term pseudonyms attached to the off-chain activity. A Solution to These Privacy Issues As one potential solution to the Lightning Network’s privacy issues, Miers pointed to a project called Bolt, which is based on a paper (PDF) he co-authored with fellow Zcash scientist and Johns Hopkins Associate Professor of Computer Science Matthew Green. With Bolt, Lightning Network-esque payments can be sent through intermediary nodes without revealing the participants in the transaction or their associated payment channel balances. These features are achieved through the use of zero-knowledge proofs. “All you have to do is do a zero-knowledge proof that [says], ‘Look, this [valid signature] exists, I’m not going to tell you the balance, and here’s the new thing that differs by five dollars,’” explained Miers. According to Miers, everything about the off-chain transactions, including payment values and participants, is hidden from the blockchain. Miers added that Bolt could be added to Bitcoin or Zcash via a soft fork or hard fork through the addition of a new opcode. “The one caveat to this is that in Bitcoin you need to be able to anonymize the funding of the channel,” Miers clarified. Without an anonymous funding mechanism, the last payment associated with a particular channel can be linked to the original funding of the channel.