More and more major cryptocurrencies are looking toward privacy features in order to enhance their existing code base. You may come across talk of Bitcoin potentially adopting exotic sounding protocols like Dandelion, or Bulletproofs, but what does this mean to the average layman? More importantly what are the already comprehensive privacy coins out there that could be overlooked.



With this article we want to shed some light on those coins whose aims are comprehensive privacy and consider the varying degrees by which they succeed or fail.

What do privacy coins offer?

The open ledger technology of Bitcoin offers pros, but also some pretty big cons. One of the biggest is the ability for everyone to see and track your wealth on the blockchain. In our world of increased surveillance this is not something everyone feels comfortable about. Privacy crypto currencies seek to preserve human freedom by giving users autonomy over their finances and what’s made public, after all privacy is a right not a privilege.



Comparing cryptocurrencies is by far not the easiest undertaking as it asks for a lot of research and time to compile data about specific coins. The world advances quickly and features that were once relevant at the time of this publication may soon become obsolete or discarded. This chart should be considered a work in progress and the info therein is in no way set in stone. For this analysis we are looking at crypto privacy features only. The lack of privacy features a particular crypto may have in no way means it’ a terrible coin, simply that it offers incomplete privacy. Comparing cryptos is a very nuanced and subjective art and there are many other aspects that go into making a strong cryptocurrency (use case, community, etc.) However for now and for the purpose of this chart we are simply going to focus on privacy tangibles.

Comparison chart

The chart can be found in this online Excel table.





Compared features

Compared features (In order to be considered a "feature" it must be offered native within the given cryptos core wallet and require no extra downloads, plugins, or procedures for use).

Fungibility

IP Protection

Sender Protection

Receiver Protection

No Richlist

Anonymous Mining/Staking

Block Time

Consensus

Market Capitalisation

The first 6 aspects are the main privacy features we found reasonable to ensure comprehensive anonymity. The final 3 are simply for general data and added perspective.

General requirements to make it into the list

Actively pursuing privacy as the main aspect

Active GitHub

Being listed at least on CoinGecko or CoinMarketCap

Running on Mainnet

Working Project Website

Whilst most charts are biased/shill or don't offer resources for features, our aim was to backup our info with links to relevant sources. Again this is a work in progress and community involvement is welcome.



And this is where YOU can help our efforts to get the chart completed with relevant data and help your favorite privacy coin/ project to shine by offering any info/insights where gaps may exist.

What information is needed?

Does the compared project have one of the features yes/no

Please provide a reliable link to any relevant information

For changes/suggestions on adding features and/or adding/deleting coins out of the chart, please comment below.

Straw Poll

We added a Straw Poll into this article to gather more knowledge about your general privacy perception in the crypto space.





As long as there is general interest in the above chart, we will aim to keep it updated as long as we can.



For questions or suggestions, please comment below.

Thank you for reading.