Cryptocurrencies could not exist without cryptography. Advances in this field can have far-reaching impacts on blockchain technology and its potential. We will examine the opinions of industry experts on the latest cryptographic advances and their potential for cryptocurrencies. Zero knowledge proofs: more than just privacy Director of research at blockchain firm Blockstream and mathematician Andrew Poelstra told Cointelegraph that zero-knowledge proof (ZK-Proof) systems are “one of the most exciting areas of development” in the cryptography space. This kind of cryptography is known and appreciated for being the basis of privacy-preserving solutions. ZK-Proofs are the basis of the privacy-preserving technology included …

Research into the top ten crypto deals in 2017 based on their investment returns (ROI) has revealed that on average each returned over 136,000 percent, according to data shared with Cointelegraph by Crypto Finance Conference (CFC) analysts July 27. Out of all the crypto projects that raised a minimum of $1 million in 2017, IOTA (MIOTA) clinched a staggering 614,934 percent return for investors, sealing the top spot in the researchers’ rankings. IOTA is an Internet of Things (IoT)-focused crypto platform that uses a so-called Tangle system. The protocol is different from blockchain, in that it does not use “blocks” …

NXT, the finance 2.0 blockchain platform, has voted unanimously to implement CoinShuffle, a coin mixing anonymity technique to NXTcoin and other 'Monetary System' tokens. Implementation is expected on the next major release. Landslide vote A vote was posed to the community this July 18 on whether the coin mixing implementation would apply just to MonetarySystem (MS) tokens or also to NXT's core token, NXTcoin. After only a day, the community's response was incontrovertible with nearly 100% of the votes supporting coin mixing implementation to NXTcoin. The votes will be weighed on July 26 based how much NXT each voter holds. …

Startup BuyAnyCoin (BAC) wants to hang a prepaid crypto card next to prepaid phone and debit cards in convenience stores. They're currently holding an Indiegogo fundraiser, hoping to raise US$10,000 for merchant outreach and continued backend development. Thor Thurneau, BAC founder, writes: “Imagine this: You walk in to your local convenience store, grab a drink and head to the register. In your peripheral vision you catch a glance of a card on the counter that says BuyAnyCoin Voucher. You ask the cashier about the card. She tells you, 'You just redeem it at their website for any of the popular …

Well, almost everything. Joining the ranks of Ethereum and MaidSafe as hopefuls to decentralize the software part of the Internet, Nxt has at least one leg-up over either of those protocols: it’s already been launched. To get an idea of what the Nxt team wants to offer, check out this interactive technology tree. Using the brand NxtInside, the team hopes that software developers will choose to build future product and service offerings on top of the Nxt protocol. A seal of NxtInside is meant tell the customer “what’s under the hood”—that the digital underpinning of the app is open-source and …

BTer recently suffered a hack of over 51 million NXT, which was its single largest market. They were, with the help of a negotiator, able to recover most of the funds. This morning, we were handed a sort of self-interview / narrative written by the key negotiator himself. While we are not in the practice of posting information handed to us verbatim, this piece included exclusive and important information. We felt that it was in the public's best interest that we post this information, since BTer's account of the event (mostly told through its Twitter page) is the only official …

Popular exchange Bter recently suffered a hack that resulted in more than 51 million NXT being stolen from the exchange, at the time worth more than USD $1.7 Million. This brought up the question: much manipulation of the blockchain is acceptable? While Bter managed to negotiate most of the NXT back into its possession, before that happened the NXT community was presented with a choice: Change the blockchain to reverse the hack and save Bter and the 51 million NXT or allow the transaction to remain and preserve the integrity of the blockchain. They overwhelmingly decided against changing the blockchain. …