Litecoin has relaunched the MimbleWimble testnet as news surfaced that Europol sees privacy protocols as threats within the digital landscape.
MimbleWimble testnet itself is one such privacy protocol built to enhance privacy and hide traceability amid transactions within a distributed ledger technology.
The latest testnet is a modified work underpinning Bitcoin’s proof-of-work algorithm where blocks appear as single transactions, preventing identification of individual ‘inputs’ and ‘outputs’ from being identified.
Lead developer of MimbleWimble, David Burkett will now work towards easing for “non-technical Litecoin users” and begin testing functionality, besides working on codes that are “fragile.”
Burkett is gearing towards a full activation of the protocol next year. He further added in a telegram channel that it is upto the Litecoin’s miners and node operators to decide “when or even if they want to activate.”
The Relaunch of Litecoin’s (LTC) MimbleWimble Testnet
Initially launched on September 30, Litcoin’s MimbleWimble testnet got postponed owing to lower community participation.
The Europol takes a full-frontal crackdown on privacy coins, coin- mixing technologies, decentralized marketplaces, anonymous wallets as among the most vicious organized crime rings.
In its latest ‘Internet Organised Crime Threat Assessment’ for 2020 report, Europol highlights that “privacy-enhanced wallet services using the Coinjoin have emerged as a top threat,” while citing out Wasabi and Samurai’s wallets as examples.
Meanwhile, wallets using Coinjoin mix coins from multiple users engaging in separate transactions to hide traceability and tracking to enhance anonymity.
Europol went to further highlight that operators of darknet marketplaces are now increasingly moving towards integrating coin mixing services such as Coinjoin wallets onto their platforms.
The report adds Bitcoin (BTC) is the most preferred cryptocurrency across the darknet marketplaces followed by Monero (XMR), Zcash (ZEC), and Dash (DASH) while Litecoin (LTC) and Ethereum (ETH) are the two most popular altcoins on the darknet marketplaces.
