A few short years after the introduction of Bitcoin , many have started to become aware of its limitations. As a result, a large number of altcoins have emerged in the market, many with arguably better technology and team support than Bitcoin.
One prominent issue with Bitcoin is its inability to ensure the privacy of transactions. A coin promising to overcome this limitation is Verge. The coin guarantees anonymity to users as it claims to use anonymity-centric networks such as Tor and I2P for every transaction.
Discover credible partners and premium clients at China’s leading finance event!
The development team behind Verge claims on its website: “Verge uses multiple anonymity-centric networks such as Tor and I2P. The IP addresses of the users are obfuscated and the transactions are completely untraceable.”
But recently, a website popped up listing the IP addresses associated with hundreds of Verge transactions.
The creator of this whistleblowing site is anonymous, but it has surely undermined Verge’s claims of being an anonymous coin.
The site explains: “Obviously not all of the IPs below will be correct. Some might just be relaying a transaction. The point is that a large amount will be correct due to the Verge network being so small.If your IP appears in the list with a TX you didn't do it means you relayed it for someone else. Would you want your IP to be connected to other users transactions? If your TX appears in the list with an IP that isn't yours it means your TX was relayed by someone else before reaching the site. This doesn't mean all your future transactions will.”
The website is currently listing the addresses from Verge Core but claims that it will release the addresses associated with Electrum-XVG too.
Before the clock chimed 2018, Verge also had the much-anticipated Wraith protocol update ready on its network. Unfortunately, the update turned out to be a faulty one, with the team itself officially posting about a lot of bugs.
The whistleblowing site went further, listing the IPs involved in Verge transactions after the update and also explaining that TOR is not added to the latest release.
The site wrote: “The page now includes Verge 4.0 (Wraith) transactions since TOR is not added to the latest Verge Core release.”
Launched as DogeCoinDark in October 2014, Verge was developed on the Bitcoin Blockchain with added privacy enhancement features, such as the use of anonymity-centric networks Tor and i2P. This coin also supports multi-algorithm mining support, so it can be mined with a range of different equipment, adding to the security of the decentralized system.
Verge has seen massive growth since mid-December - its price went up from $0.018 to $0.157, a gain of above 780 percent. The market cap of the coin also soared above $2.2 billion.
But after the Wraith update, the price of the coin tanked from $0.228, indicating a loss of interest amongst traders.
Verge's gains largely followed a recommendation by software mogul John McAfee. But this also attracted many skeptics, as allegations surfaced that McAfee was taking millions to recommend the coin.
