A curious front-runner appeared in the past week, as Bitcoin Private (BTCP) suddenly spiked in value. The privacy-minded Bitcoin fork is showing a 12% rise in price – suggesting that success may soon come to BTCP. The factors that impact smaller market cap coins have changed over the course of the year, as the market shrinks. The extended bear market drove many newer investors out of the community, leaving several specific subsets of cryptocurrency fanatic.
One such subset is the privacy-minded investor. These are people who follow the original desire to use cryptocurrency as an actual currency – as opposed to a store of value or an investment vehicle. However, unlike the original Bitcoin blockchain, these users would prefer their transactions remain hidden from the public eye. Bitcoin Private will specifically appeal to this sub-group, and it may be a factor in the sudden price increase.
KuCoin Begins Bitcoin Private Support
Another potential catalyst for Bitcoin Private’s recent success is the reopening of BTCP withdraws on KuCoin. KuCoin is one of the larger centralized cryptocurrency exchanges and they previously supported Bitcoin Private’s initial airdrop. Despite this, BTCP withdraws have been suspended for most of the year. As such, the reopening of BTCP creates a considerable amount of liquidity for the coin. However, as KuCoin’s announcement states – withdraws will only be open until March, as it stands.
This may result in Bitcoin Private’s current fortune being temporary. If KuCoin decides to re-lock the funds located in their exchange wallets, it’s hard to see the general community supporting a prolonged rally. The opposite will be true if KuCoin decides to open a full trading pair for Bitcoin Private – they may see another surge and increased trading volume overall.
Bitcoin Private and the Appeal of Obfuscation
The anemic market conditions have given rise to some strange swaps in the top 100 cryptocurrencies. As Ethereum (ETH) battles Ripple (XRP), Bitcoin Cash fell from the top 5. On the lower end, Bitcoin Private crept onto the list and made it as high as number 65. The appeal of BTCP is clear – as a hard fork of the Bitcoin Core blockchain, Bitcoin Private is attractive to purists that prefer the legacy blockchain.
At the same time, it incorporates features of Zcash (ZEC), one of the leading privacy chains and a pioneer of Zsnark technology. The obfuscation technology at work ensures that all transactions are private – something that the original Bitcoin chain openly avoids. For those uncomfortable with Zcash itself, BTCP may be the preferred alternative.
Article By: Adam Stone
