Online privacy is rapidly becoming a major focal point in 2018, as data misconduct at major companies like Facebook and Grindr has sent shockwaves through the United States. Online services and social media platforms are starting to demand more and more personal data, in order to produce a more tailored internet experience. However, it’s clear that these centralized models are fundamentally flawed and are placing users at serious risk.

Not surprisingly, one of the major themes in the cryptocurrency industry in 2018 has been privacy. This has come in two major forms: privacy coins and trustless, decentralized platforms. There are a number of interesting privacy coin projects, including Zcoin and Sumokoin, all of which are hoping to solve the key privacy flaw with Bitcoin’s public ledger system.

Decentralized platforms function to reduce or eliminate single point failures that result in security breaches, as well as malicious behavior by centralized, controlling parties. This is especially important when it comes to e-commerce platforms, like eBay and Amazon.

One blockchain project that is hoping to build a pervasive, decentralized privacy platform is Particl. The Particl platform allows for the creation of decentralized applications (DApps), which are easily integrated within their secure, highly-scalable environment. Particl leverages smart contracts built on the Bitcoin Core codebase to allow developers to launch fully customizable, privacy-focused applications — the first official DApp set for release is an anonymous and decentralized marketplace for goods and services, developed by the core Particl team.

Interested in Particl? Here’s a quick rundown of the project:

Platform & Development

In short, Particl is building a decentralized platform where users can use or create tools and smart-contracts that respect their privacy rights.

Their first DApp is a private marketplace that offers a low-cost, secure and scalable e-commerce experience. A key feature of the Particl marketplace is the escrow system that leverages MAD escrow smart-contracts, which work to lock funds in a secure, multi-signature address until all of the parties sign off on the transaction. The Particl marketplace is exclusively governed by the Particl community which also earns all the fees it generates.

The Particl (PART) coin is built on the Bitcoin Core codebase and is hosted by its own blockchain, with plans to leverage SegWit and the Lightning Network. PART is a privacy coin and leverages the Confidential Transaction (CT) privacy protocol for blind transactions, and the RingCT privacy protocol for fully anonymous transactions. Particl Desktop is Particl’s main GUI wallet and is intended to be the operating system and default wallet of the Particl platform.

Particl is currency and protocol-agnostic, which means that any cryptocurrency can be spent on the DApps built on the platform and the platform is not limited to one decentralized data storage protocol. However, as the platform’s DApps require the PART coin to function in a private way, all incoming currency transactions are automatically converted into PART.

Particl leverages a modified Proof-of-Stake consensus mechanism called Particl Proof-of-Stake (PPoS), which is built to include added security and utility features. The current inflation rate for PART is 5% of its total supply during the first year, which decreases yearly by 1% before it settles on 2% indefinitely. Investors are able to cold-stake their PART coins through dedicated staking nodes, which enables participation in Particl’s decentralized voting system, among other features. The voting tool allows the platform’s community to quickly reach consensus and better coordinate itself.

Particl provides a very detailed, active roadmap that allows you to track the development of features from Testnet to Mainnet.

Team

Particl boasts a strong development-focused team. The Particl Foundation is a non-profit Swiss foundation, enabling the organization and deployment of funding and logistics to ensure the safe development of the Particl project and vision. It’s interesting to note that the Particl project absorbed the ShadowCash team.

Token Financials

Particl (PART) currently has a market cap of ~$87 million with a circulating supply of 8,917,055 PART.

Final Take

Particl’s focus on privacy fits extremely well into the larger business climate, as both individuals and companies look to move away from compromising, centralized systems. Particl’s platform stands to make some serious waves once fully live, as developers can efficiently build DApps with privacy built into the core. Finally, the private, decentralized marketplace is shaping up to be an interesting competitor to well-established platforms like Amazon and eBay. Overall, Particl is definitely a project to keep an eye on moving forward.

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Disclaimer: The author(s) of this article may have a position in one or more of the securities mentioned above. This article is for informational purposes only and should not be taken as investment advice. Always conduct your own due diligence before making investments.