en
Back to the list

Monero, ZCash record growing acceptance on dark web merchant sites; Bitcoin rules the roost

source-logo  ambcrypto.com 18 July 2019 02:30, UTC

Bitcoin’s popularity on the dark web net is no secret, with cryptocurrencies focused on anonymity and privacy recording growing acceptance in its shady underbelly. The growing use of privacy-centric coins especially is mainly because it provides anonymity on all 3 facets of the transaction – sender’s address, receiver’s address, and the transaction amount.

Two of the world’s most popular privacy crypto-assets, Monero [XMR] and ZCash [ZEC], have managed to outshine its peer coins in this regard. According to data charted by Wallet Investor, Monero came up trumps while ZCash was the runner-up in terms of its valuation over a one-year period.

Source: WalletInvestor

Bitcoin’s usage on the dark web has fallen extensively over the last few years and several dark web sites have started to accept privacy coins. Even as Bitcoin continued to dominate top dark web market sites, Monero and its peer privacy-focused coins gained wider acceptance on different platforms.

According to previous reports, Monero was popularly used on the American and European dark web.

In a recent study by Mosaic.io, XMR followed Bitcoin in being accepted by several darknet merchant places. The report took into account around 50 leading darknet merchant sites, out of which 98% or 43 sites accepted Bitcoin, while 10 sites accepted XMR and 2 accepted ZCash.

The study featured on Coinbase’s YouTube channel, who put up a disclaimer stating that results might potentially exhibit a biased view of the understanding of the industry since “information and discussions” were scattered.

Over 200 participants responded to the privacy coin survey titled, “State of Privacy Coin 2019.” A major 78% represented men and only 5% were women, while the remaining 17%  preferred not to reveal their gender. 69% of the sampled privacy coin owners in the survey were between 26-30 years, while 22% were between 35-39 years and 14% were between 31-34 years.

42% of the respondents mentioned ZCash as their first privacy coin acquisition, while 25% went for Monero and 11% for Dash. 28% of the participants had ZCash on their portfolio, while 19% had Monero. 53% of the buyers’ decision-making process was influenced by Twitter, while Reddit accounted for 22% and YouTube for 17%. Only 11% of the participants did their own research.

The study by Mosaic.io provides a picture of ZCash growing at a steady pace. Monero’s past vulnerabilities, including severe malware attacks on desktops, mobile phones, and PCs earned the privacy coin a bad repute. Besides, ZCash has garnered plaudits from the community who have argued that its encryption, which uses a cryptographic technique called zero-knowledge proofs, is far more secure than its rival, Monero.

ambcrypto.com