
Our weekly updates are put together by folks deep in the crypto scene, giving you a clear picture of what's happening without overwhelming you.

July 12, 2024
AIRDROPS: Stone age
July 12, 2024
ALPHA: Free Champions
July 5, 2024
AIRDROPS: It's Symbiotic
July 5, 2024
ALPHA: Generative AF
June 28, 2024
AIRDROPS: Blast into Scroll
June 28, 2024
ALPHA: Giga PFPs on Solana
June 21, 2024
AIRDROPS: Lots of Linea
June 21, 2024
ALPHA: Entangled on fx(hash)
June 14, 2024
AIRDROPS: Photon Blaster
June 14, 2024
ALPHA: Whatup BabesMay 31, 2021

The Landscape
What Are Privacy Coins? Monero, Zcash, and Dash Explained
The pseudonymous nature of Bitcoin addresses enables transactions without identifying personal information, but that doesn’t make it a completely anonymous cryptocurrency. Because the entire transaction history lives in public view on a blockchain, it can be possible for investigators and firms to piece together people's identities based on the movement of coins and details held within addresses. That’s where so-called privacy coins come in. Cryptocurrencies like Monero (XMR), Zcash (ZEC), and D...
May 26, 2021

Business
Norwegian Police Trying to Crack Monero and Dash in Missing Person Case
Norway’s National CyberCrime Center is trying to pry open Monero and Dash—two cryptocurrencies known for their privacy-protection capabilities—amidst the search for missing person Anne-Elisabeth Hagen. Police believe that the privacy coins were used in connection with a ransom attempt and that tracing these transactions could help lead them to Hagen’s whereabouts. “I do not want to comment specifically on what we have done or are doing in the context of Dash and Monero, or what we have achieved...
Jan 1, 2021

Markets
Privacy Coins Drop 10% After Bittrex Announcement
Prices of the popular privacy coins went into freefall after Bittrex’s announced today that it will delist Monero, Dash and Zcash later this month. As Decrypt reported earlier today, the exchange announced that it will delist Monero (XMR), Dash (DASH), and Zcash (ZEC) on January 15, 2021, at 23:00 UTC. The sudden announcement sent the prices of these privacy coins into a downward spiral. Since the announcement by Bittrex, the price of XMR is down by 12.4%, ZEC is down 9.5% and DASH is down 8.7...
Jan 1, 2021

Coins
Bittrex To Delist Privacy Coins Monero, ZCash and Dash in Two Weeks
Crypto exchange Bittrex today announced that it will delist privacy coins Monero (XMR), ZCash and Dash on Friday, January 15, at 23:00 UTC. #Bittrex Customers: The $XMR, $ZEC, and $DASH markets will be removed on Friday, January 15th at 23:00 UTC. Details: https://t.co/8qAdjuwryJ — Bittrex (@BittrexExchange) January 1, 2021 The Bermuda-registered exchange did not provide a reason for the delistings, but all three are privacy coins—a class of cryptocurrencies that offer untraceable transact...
Nov 12, 2020

Technology
Darkcoin to Dash: The 5-Year Fight to Rebrand a Privacy Coin
In the spring of 2014, Wired ran a story titled “Darkcoin, the Shadowy Cousin of Bitcoin, Is Booming.” It was about a nascent privacy coin that was selling for nearly $7. If you’ve never heard of Darkcoin, that’s because it’s now called Dash. And although it was the first coin to integrate CoinJoin mixing, its contributors say it’s now no more a privacy coin than Bitcoin. So, when ShapeShift recently delisted Dash, along with privacy-first Monero and privacy-optional Zcash, the group that helps...
Nov 10, 2020

Coins
ShapeShift Confirms Regulatory Risk Led to Privacy Coin Delistings
Crypto trading platform ShapeShift delisted privacy coins Monero, Dash, and Zcash to limit the company’s regulatory risk, according to ShapeShift. “We delisted all those coins at the same time, for the same reason,” ShapeShift Chief Legal Officer Veronica McGregor told Decrypt. “We are de-risking the company from a regulatory standpoint, so, for now, we are not working with those coins. We may revisit the situation in the future.” IRS Dishes Out $1.25 Million for Data Firms to Crack Monero CoinD...
Aug 4, 2020

Business
Millions of Visa-accepting stores in Mexico can now take crypto
Crypto enthusiasts in Mexico have a new bridge to the world of traditional finance—and a new way to spend their coins. Tauros, a cryptocurrency exchange and neobank, has teamed up with Dash to launch the region’s first crypto debit card—a unique want to spend Dash, Bitcoin, and other cryptocurrencies at any Visa-accepting location in Mexico. Tauros, which is based in Mexico, offers various financial services, and through an agreement with Visa can now provide its users with a debit card backed...
Apr 10, 2020

Technology
Venezuelans have a new way to send crypto without Internet
Poor internet service will no longer be an obstacle for Venezuelans to pay with crypto. The Venezuelan exchange Criptolago announced earlier this week the launch of a service that processes crypto transactions via a text message—no Internet connection required. According to the exchange, the initiative was launched in response to a call by President Nicolas Maduro, who urged companies to develop payment mechanisms parallel to the traditional banking system. The president emphasized the need to c...
Mar 27, 2020

Markets
Dash, popular in Venezuela, gains after Maduro indictment
Dash (DASH)—the 20th largest cryptocurrency by market cap—has jumped nearly five percent over the past 24 hours and is now trading for over $70. The currency encountered its 2020 peak in mid-January. At that time, Dash was trading for well over $132, which shot up following an internet shutdown in the South American country of Venezuela, where Dash has proven to be popular amongst both citizens and top retailers alike. By March 13—a low day for most cryptocurrencies—the asset had lost nearly $1...
Mar 18, 2020

Markets
Crypto market has settled, but these two altcoins are surging
The crypto market has had a tumultuous few weeks. But today, as things in crypto have settled and the price of most cryptocurrencies have remained relatively stable over the past two days, two altcoins are pumping like mad. Dash, the 20th largest crypto by market cap, is currently up more than 22% on the day, trading for $57 per coin. It’s a far cry from where the crypto stood just this past February, when it was trading for $114. Still, the more than 20% jump is curious, with no clear answer...
Jan 15, 2020

Markets
Dash price surges 60%, flips Tron to re-enter top 10 coins
Dash is now the tenth-largest cryptocurrency by market cap after an increase of more than 50 percent to its price today. The cryptocurrency is currently trading for around $140 per coin, the highest its price has been since July 2019. The surge has been enough to surpass Tron in the market cap rankings, which now falls out of the top 10 with a market cap of approximately $1.16 billion. Prior to today’s spike, it had been a relatively lackluster few months for Dash. It hit a yearly high of $150...
Jan 11, 2020

Business
Death of privacy: Dash Core Group CMO slams Hong Kong’s phone seizures
The Secretary for Security of the city of Hong Kong police, Charles Lee, announced this week that the city’s police have seized over 3,700 phones from protestors, Business Insider reported. Hong Kong has been roiled for weeks as protests battle China’s demand that Hong Kong citizens be extradited to China upon request. More broadly, the protests, which have so far led to more than 6,000 arrests, are a reaction to China’s growing influence over Hong Kong. Speaking in front of Hong Kong’s Legislat...
Dec 31, 2019

Business
How Dash's testnet will "dramatically improve" its capabilities
Dash Core Group, the company responsible for the payments and privacy coin, Dash, yesterday released the first testing phase for Dash Platform, an upgrade that adds support for decentralized applications and supplies the tools for a Venmo-style crypto wallet. “Having applications developed on top of the Dash network will dramatically improve the user experience and the functionality offered. As much as everyone in crypto likes to dismiss the traditional centralized financial tools, they still do...
Nov 8, 2019

Business
Dash LatAm fights to stay alive despite funding woes
Dash LatAm CEO George Donnelly might have called it quits last week, but the group refuses to die. In an official statement, written by Dash Los Teques head Richard Jerez and signed by representatives of Dash LatAm, the group has said that it plans to continue operations throughout Latin America—even if it’s without Donnelly and under a different group name. "We will continue offering advice and support, both face-to-face and remote, to the merchants who were left helpless after the forced end o...
Oct 30, 2019

Long Reads
What crypto needs for mass adoption: industry leaders explain
Blockchain companies, almost unilaterally, promise increased efficiency and speed. Blockchain can send us to space, and blockchain can feed starving children. But for new users, it’s still a daunting prospect. Those interested in buying cryptocurrencies must choose between hundreds of tokens, jump through a series of complicated KYC hoops on exchanges, grapple with token volatility, and then understand how wallets work. So how can crypto overcome these challenges to achieve mass adoption? Decryp...
Oct 29, 2019

Business
Dash LatAm shuts down operations in 8 countries and 20 cities
The Dash community in Latin America has just lost a prominent member of its ecosystem. Dash LatAm, an organization devoted to promoting the Dash cryptocurrency throughout the region, is shutting down, a blog post published by its founder George Donelly announced today. "Dash Core has warned us that Dash LatAm's operations are definitely not going to continue," Donelly wrote. "This means that there will be no more promotions, events, buybacks, support, etc. in the 8 countries and 20 cities where...
Oct 3, 2019

Business
BitGo moves into cryptocurrency staking market
Crypto custody provider BitGo is now supporting cryptocurrency staking as part of its insured custody services. Previously, the Palo Alto-based company offered secure storage of cryptocurrencies but they weren’t accessible for features like staking, where coins generate interest by maintaining a proof-of-stake network, like Dash. Now, staking providers will be able to store their coins at BitGo—and pass the staking rewards on to their customers. A number of companies have already jumped on board...
Sep 19, 2019

Coins
Coinbase opens up Dash trading for all retail customers, except NY and U.K.
Dash is now available on Coinbase, the San Francisco-based cryptocurrency exchange announced in a blog post today. Dash, currently among the top-20 cryptocurrencies by market cap, is available everywhere Coinbase operates, apart from New York and the United Kingdom. Today’s news follows the launch of Dash on Coinbase Pro last week. Coinbase Pro is designed for institutional clients—an exchange where users can trade crypto between each other. On Coinbase.com, retail customers can buy crypto insta...
Sep 16, 2019

Coins
OKEx Korea to delist privacy coins
The Korean branch of crypto exchange OKEx is delisting all five of its listed privacy coins—Dash, Monero, Zcash, Super Bitcoin and Horizen—citing regulatory demands. In a blog post published last week, OKex said the decision had been made to comply with recent provisions from the Financial Action Task Force, a global anti-money laundering watchdog. Earlier this year, the agency introduced a “travel rule” requiring exchanges to collect customers’ personal and transactional data. Privacy coins, w...
Sep 12, 2019

Coins
Coinbase announces support for Dash on pro trading platform
Leading U.S.-based cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase today announced it will soon make the Dash cryptocurrency available to buy, sell and trade for its pro users. Support for the cryptocurrency is set to begin next week on September 16. The launch of Dash transfers will occur in four stages, beginning with a “transfer-only” phase in which users can transfer Dash tokens into their Coinbase Pro accounts. Posting limit orders will then be rolled out incrementally until full trading for Dash is event...