24 Jan, 2023
12 minutes
Even though the blockchain world is slowly but surely reaching the mainstream, there are still many misconceptions, often persistent ones. For example, many people seem to believe that all cryptos are anonymous. The truth is that they are, for the most part, quasi-anonymous: your wallet address won’t expose any sensitive data, but it can be used to identify you. When your identity is linked to your crypto activity, third parties can become aware of your transactions and assets.
However, there exist cryptocurrencies that are fully private, which means there’s little to no risk of your blockchain activity being known by others. Before we list the best private cryptocurrencies to buy, it is important to understand the basics of what they are and how they work.
A private crypto is a currency that utilizes cryptography to safeguard transactions and govern the issuance of new private cryptocurrency units. It is worth repeating that all cryptocurrencies operate on the complete decentralization principle, which means they are not controlled by a state or any financial authorities or institutions.
Unlike BTC or other pseudo-anonymous cryptos, private altcoins do offer heightened security and, more or less, full anonymity to their users. Instead of being recorded on a public ledger, private crypto transactions are kept undisclosed.
The most important mechanism for keeping these coins up to date is the prudent use of cryptography. Cryptography is similar to encryption, whereby you convert something that is readable into something that is unreadable. Here are the two main ways that private coins harness the power of cryptography:
Encrypting the transactions. Only the persons directly involved in the transaction can see the encrypted data. Encryption efficiently prevents outside parties from reading the transaction.
Governing the creation of new units. Mining is controlled, and that helps keep private cryptocurrencies just that.
Even though you’re used to the Exolix Blog coming up with daring top picks, that’s not what we’re doing this time. Our number one pick is Monero (XMR). Not only is it one of the best-represented and talked-about private coins, but it is also one that implements a number of efficient and sophisticated features that add value to its users, such as something called ring signatures. Many businesses accept XMR as payment since it is fungible. The large exchange sites put XMR front and center as one of the most popular coins. Here’s a list of the main advantages of XMR:
Monero is proven to be safe and anonymous.
It’s impossible to trace transactions back to you.
It offers block and scalability limits.
The XMR team is always trying to improve their project.
Monero has selective transparency: XMR is auditable.
The number two pick is not going to surprise you either: it’s Dash. This altcoin utilizes a robust technique known as PrivateSend to make sure that all transactions are private. Here are the biggest pros of Dash:
InstantSend. You can send your Dash coins with no network confirmation.
The Dash team is very dedicated and forward-thinking.
Dash reaches consensus much more easily than most of its competitors.
Scalability is simple when using Dash.
Zcash (ZEC). Even when we aren’t talking about private coins, ZEC is very likely to make any list of the best cryptocurrency to buy for profit. It’s a very dynamic cryptocurrency that offers its users many opportunities to improve their experience. For instance, ZEC allows users to swap privacy settings on different levels. It also has mainstream credibility – in 2018, it brokered a deal with Microsoft. The ZEC team helped expand and boost the security functions of the Azure cloud platform.
As a Dash fork, PIVX boasts many of the same features that made Dash one of the top picks. The key difference lies in the fact that PIVX is proof-of-stake crypto, which means that investors can make money by staking their funds. Instead of Dash’s master node system, PIVX uses community-driven governance. This governance model is what makes PIVX one of the best crypto projects currently running.
Along with most private coins, NavCoin (NAV) allows its users to enjoy heightened security and anonymity. The biggest selling point is their patented NaVTech, a technique that enables users to carry out transactions with no need for a central server. Furthermore, NAV is among the very few private coins that offer both proof of work and proof of stake. One of the features that really send NAV over the edge for us is its community fund. The fund made many great things possible: small ideas and impossible dreams came true; for example, NAV became the first carbon-neutral cryptocurrency in the world.
Private coins are the ones that use cryptography to protect all data related to the users involved in a transaction. Most people seem to think that cryptocurrencies are inherently anonymous, but that is not true. Some of them have a higher level of security, while others are traceable.
The process of purchasing private cryptocurrencies is pretty much the same as buying regular cryptocurrency. If you want to purchase a private coin, you’ll have to choose a purchase method that suits you the most – crypto exchange sites, financial apps, crypto trading apps, or multi-purpose platforms like Exolix.
Different crypto analysts hold different opinions as to what the best private crypto coin is. In our opinion, at the time of publishing, the best private cryptocurrency to invest in is none other than Monero (XMR). There are fresher and riskier picks out there, but if you want to generate a healthy return in the crypto market, XMR is a promising choice. But make sure to do your own research before investing.
XMR, DASH, ZEC, PIVX, and NAV round up the top five. Additional assets in the top ten include ZEN, XVG, GRIN, DCR, and BCN. Each comes with a certain level of promise. But, currently, it is difficult to forecast when these coins will have the highest market cap and/or the best returns. Once again, XMR seems like the best pick overall.
