BitcoinDark is a disruptive cryptocurrency designed to let users perform transactions with complete privacy and anonymity. The coin’s developers believe everyone has the right to private transactions without any of the costs imposed by the gatekeepers of the financial world.
BitcoinDark (abbreviated BTCD) has four core features—encapsulated in the D.a.r.k acronym—its developers believe are essential for the healthy functioning and growth of a crypto economy:
- Decentralization – While decentralization has always been one of the core tenets of cryptocurrencies in general, many coins have become dangerously centralized by corporate interests and a reliance on a resource-intensive proof-of-work mining system. To keep it decentralized and accessible to everyone, BitcoinDark developers have implemented a proof-of-stake mining system that’s resistant to centralization.
- Anonymity – Privacy is built into BitcoinDark from the ground up. Its developers believe anonymity should be the standard for all financial transactions.
- Real-time exchange – The blockchain creates an immutable record of all transactions, but this immutability costs efficiency. BitcoinDark is integrated into a decentralized exchange (InstantDEX) that saves time by enabling real-time trading of currencies, commodities, and assets.
- Key currencies – Volatility has become an expected characteristic of almost every cryptocurrency ever created. To combat volatility, BitcoinDark allows users to “lock” their coins using a pegged asset exchange (PAX) against real-world currencies and commodities, and redeem them at a later date. Coupled with BTCD’s built-in exchange, users can easily trade and manage their investment portfolios outside the existing financial system.
- Teleport: Anonymizes transactions by cloning and exchanging standard denominations of currency.
- Telepathy: Masks IP addresses and encrypts all communication sent across the network.
BitcoinDark Pricing, Market Cap and Volume
Since its release in 2014, the market value of 1 BTCD has reached as high as $172.05. BTCD has a maximum cap of 22 million coins. As of November 2017, there were 1,288,862 BTCD in circulation with a market cap of $179,680,000 and the average value of 1 BTCD was just under $140. BitcoinDark is no longer supported by its developers and the entire circulating supply of BTCD is being swapped for Komodo.
How BitcoinDark Works
BitcoinDark is a pure proof-of-stake cryptocurrency that was forked from NovaCoin in 2014. Before its release, there was a noticeable lack of an ASIC-friendly, proof-of-stake coins with anonymous transaction capabilities. BitcoinDark was released with a two week proof-of-work period and then transitioned into a proof-of-stake system. It has two unique characteristics that help to increase anonymity:
Unlike most cryptocurrencies, BitcoinDark encourages ASIC mining, which is faster and much more efficient than conventional CPU/GPU mining. The coin’s developers want the exciting developments taking place in the crypto world to be accessible to everyone.
P2P Instant Exchange (InstantDEX)
BitcoinDark is integrated into an instant decentralized exchange (InstantDEX), which allows users to trade a wide range of cryptocurrencies and assets in real time. InstantDEX builds composite order books from several sources to give users the best possible depth and reach, and settles trades on a peer-to-peer basis.
Pegged Asset Exchange (PAX)
InstantDEX implements a pegged asset exchange (PAX) to enable users to buy and sell assets, including major fiat currencies (USD, GBP, EUR), commodities (gold, silver, copper), and stocks by pegging them to BTCD.
You can use PAX to “lock” your BTCD against a currency or commodity when a trade position opens. Your coins are then burned and removed from the coin supply. When the trade position is closed, an amount of coins corresponding to the profit or loss resulting from the position is credited to your balance.
Unlike traditional exchanges, PAX is completely decentralized and has no single point of failure. InstantDEX and PAX can be hosted on your personal machine, so you’ll always have access to your assets without having to deal with a middleman.
BitcoinDark vs. Other Cryptocurrencies
BitcoinDark was created with privacy and efficiency in mind—two things Bitcoin is forced to sacrifice in its current form.
Bitcoin transactions can be tracked by anyone because of the transparent nature of its blockchain, which is a problem for users who value their privacy. Bitcoin also uses a ridiculous amount of electricity to process transactions because it is based on a proof-of-work system. As of October 2017, the amount of electricity used for a single Bitcoin trade could power a home for almost an entire month.
BitcoinDark was specifically designed to work around those two problems. With teleport and telepathy, all transactions and communications that occur on the BTCD network are completely anonymous. The developers’ decision to move BitcoinDark from a proof-of-work to a proof-of-stake model means miners will never have to use enormous amounts of energy to verify transactions.
Acquiring and Storing BitcoinDark
BitcoinDark can be bought and sold at several exchanges, including Bittrex, Poloniex, Cryptopia, and Bleutrade. Most of these exchanges also allow you to store your BitcoinDark there after you buy, but you can also download a BTCD client wallet before you start trading tokens. The coin’s developers recommend using the BitcoinDark-QT wallet for storage. It’s available on Windows, Mac OSX, and Linux.
BTCD to Komodo Swap
To further improve BitcoinDark’s potential, BTCD developers have migrated to Komodo (KMD), a privacy-centered cryptocurrency the uses the zero-proof knowledge protocol pioneered by Zcash and a novel delayed proof-of-work (dPoW) consensus mechanism to provide users with unrivaled privacy and security.
To ease the transition from BTCD to KMD, users can swap their holdings at the rate of 1 BTCD for 50 KMD. The swap is scheduled to end in January 2018. Check out SuperNET’s guide on swapping BTCD to KMD for more information.
Liquidity of BTCD
Despite the migration from BTCD to KMD, BitcoinDark can still be bought and sold at various crypto exchanges. There are no exchanges that trade BTCD for fiat currency. If you want cash for your coins, you’ll have to find someone you trust to make the trade.
