The Independent Republic

Monero’s (XMR) status as one of the more anonymous cryptocurrencies has been enhanced following a successful audit of the zk-SNARKs proofs on its blockchain. Initially deployed by Zcash, zk-SNARKs have emerged as the best way to ensure total anonymity while still providing proof of possession. In simple terms, zk-SNARK (Zero-Knowledge Succinct Non-Interactive Argument of Knowledge), allows one party to prove that a statement is true without revealing any information to another. Put another way, the statement itself is proof that the transaction is valid.

Community Positive but Monero Price Remains Bearish

Although zk-SNARK is fairly complex and not without its flaws, it’s an interesting area of development for cryptos that want to prioritize anonymity. This has always been the goal for Monero’s developers and that’s what prompted a recent external audit. After deploying zk-SNARKs as a test on the blockchain, the team drafted in Kudelski Security to look for any bugs in the system. After a thorough review, the report came back as positive. Although not perfect, the official Monero Twitter account made the news public on July 15.

While the announcement didn’t say the new technology (which will be known as Bulletproofs) has been fully integrated into the blockchain, the community is keen to hear more. Indeed, as the news broke on Monero’s Reddit page, a wave of congratulatory messages and enthusiastic questions were posted. Interestingly, however, the price of Monero hasn’t improved as a result. Although the new feature is clearly in its early stages, it’s undoubtedly a positive development for the project. Looking at the Monero live price charts from mid-July to the start of August, the coin’s value has actually dropped from $144 to $117.

Complexity Could be Stunting XMR Price Rise

Part of the problem is likely to be current uncertainty surrounding zk-SNARK. Although Zcash has shown it can work, there are those that believe it needs more development to be effective. Talking to Cryptovest, Zcoin COO Reuben Yap said that more testing needs to take place before security audits are deemed reliable. In essence, the issue here is that zk-SNARK is a tricky concept to understand and assess, even for security experts. This, in turn, means that even a successful trial is not yet proof that the technology is ready to go live.

Looking beyond the intricacies of zk-SNARK, successful implementation would certainly boost the price of XMR and the project as a whole. In recent months, we’ve seen the Monero price in dollars outperform that of its peers. However, there are still problems on the network. Despite Change.org using Monero mining as a force for good, the WordPress hacks have shown the system’s focus on anonymity can lead to cryptojacking issues. Overall, the price of Monero could certainly benefit from zk-SNARKs making the network more anonymous. However, it’s likely to be a while before the wider community understands the technology well enough to assign it a true value.