Latest PIVX Medium

Vitalik Buterin Joins Privacy Party, Unveils Kohaku

Speaking at Devcon, Ethereum founder Vitalik Buterin unveiled Kohaku, a new privacy-focused framework for the Ethereum ecosystem. He described the launch as entering the “very last mile stage” of development, where concerted effort is needed to enhance user privacy and security on the blockchain.

Kohaku is an open-source, modular suite of primitives that will allow developers to build privacy-preserving wallets and applications without reliance on centralized intermediaries. The framework is intended to establish default, opt-in privacy for Ethereum-connected wallets, thereby formalizing privacy as a fundamental user expectation.

This initiative, spearheaded by the Ethereum Foundation and other key stakeholders, marks a major step in the ongoing “privacy upgrade path” for the network.

The project currently serves as a work-in-progress on GitHub, incorporating software packages for protocols that enhance on-chain anonymity and security. Notably, the framework includes integrations for Railgun and Privacy Pools. The Ethereum boss has been quite vocal on his call for privacy in the crypto space. He said:

“Privacy is freedom. It gives us space to live our lives in the ways that meet our needs without having to constantly worry about how our actions will be perceived by all kinds of centralized and decentralized coercive political and social entities.”

Last month, the Foundation launched the Privacy Cluster, a 47-member team of cryptographers, engineers, and researchers dedicated to establishing privacy as a “first-class property” of Ethereum. Furthermore, the former Privacy & Scaling Explorations team rebranded to the Privacy Stewards of Ethereum in September, signifying a shift from speculative research to solving concrete, real-world privacy challenges, including confidential DeFi and private voting mechanisms.

Kohaku may also evolve to include tools like ZK-powered browsers and mixnets for network-level anonymity.

PIVX. Your Rights. Your Privacy. Your Choice.
To stay on top of PIVX news please visit PIVX.org and Discord.PIVX.org.

Vitalik Buterin Joins Privacy Party, Unveils Kohaku was originally published in PIVX on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

The Dangers of Doxxing Your Income

You’ve probably stumbled on tweets of people showing their crypto portfolio online. No doubt, most of these guys are just farming for engagement but a few are actually real. What do you think would happen if someone is able to link your real identity to your $500k crypto portfolio?

“Doxxing” is the act of disclosing personally identifiable information about a person or organization online. In the crypto space, this could mean putting a real face behind the NFT pfp. And trust me when I say that it’s not that difficult when you transact on public blockchains.

Public blockchains like Bitcoin and Ethereum create a unique and profound risk: the potential for income doxxing. Unlike traditional finance, where your bank balances and salary are heavily guarded secrets, connecting a public address to your identity exposes your entire financial history.

Doxxing your income is not merely an embarrassment; it is the ultimate privacy compromise that can lead directly to tangible, real-world harms.

1. Physical Danger

The most chilling consequence of income doxxing is the connection to physical threat and the highly profitable crime of crypto-ransom kidnapping. Criminals are highly motivated to spend time and resources on targets they know are worth the risk. By exposing your high crypto income or large wallet balance, you move from a general internet user to a verified High-Net-Worth Individual (HNWI) whose abduction is guaranteed to yield a massive payoff.

Once criminals have your name, they can use online tools to find your home address, workplace, and the routines of your family members. Your disclosed income justifies the expense and violence required for an in-person ambush.

2. Financial and Professional Blackmail

Even without physical danger, the knowledge of your exact wealth gives malicious actors some leverage over you. If a cybercriminal can link your online alias to a wallet containing millions, they have a powerful tool for extortion. They can threaten to publicly reveal your identity, your controversial past transactions, or simply harass you until you pay a ransom.

When your employer, or a future employer, knows your exact income or net worth, it changes the power dynamic completely. It can be used to justify lower salary offers or lead to internal resentment and jealousy.

Furthermore, scammers are highly sophisticated. They will use the knowledge of your income to craft incredibly convincing, high-stakes phishing attacks specifically designed to appeal to someone with your financial profile.

3. Social Isolation and Inequality

Doxxing your income doesn’t just attract criminals; it fundamentally changes your social reality. Public wealth creates unrealistic expectations among friends, family, and even strangers. It can lead to constant requests for loans, and the inability to form genuine, trust-based relationships, as every interaction may be viewed through a financial lens.

Once your income is linked to your name, every controversial or unpopular opinion you post online becomes a target. Attackers can leverage your financial status to discredit your views, accusing you of “buying influence” or simply saying, “Look at this rich person’s opinion.”

Financial Privacy is a Shield

This is where privacy-focused blockchains like PIVX offer an essential service. By utilizing features like the zk-SNARKs-based SHIELD protocol, you can break the transaction links on the public ledger, making it impossible for someone to trace your public wallet address to your true financial holdings.

In a world where transparency is the default, financial privacy is the ultimate shield against fraud, extortion, and the most extreme forms of personal harm.

PIVX. Your Rights. Your Privacy. Your Choice.
To stay on top of PIVX news please visit PIVX.org and Discord.PIVX.org.

The Dangers of Doxxing Your Income was originally published in PIVX on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

PIVX Weekly Pulse (Nov 7th, 2025 — Nov. 13th, 2025)

PIVX Weekly Pulse (Nov 7th, 2025 — Nov. 13th, 2025)

Your weekly PIVX recap is here. We filtered through the noise to bring you only the most critical market movements and the hottest community happenings in one easy read.

Market Pulse

  • Masternode Count: The active masternode count has rebounded to 2,048, an increase from 1,915. This rise is likely a result of the recent price drop, which presents a timely opportunity for operators to own masternodes affordably.
  • Price Check: PIVX prices finally succumbed to the negative trends in the broader crypto market, resulting in a weekly loss of nearly 40%. The asset’s Daily USD Value was highly volatile, swinging sharply between $0.20 and $0.30. The weekly average price is now $0.25, down from last week’s $0.2952.
    The downturn mirrors the broader market caution, with Bitcoin falling below $100k. The 11 U.S.-listed spot Bitcoin ETFs collectively saw a significant outflow of $869.86 million on Thursday (the second-highest on record). Investors have now pulled out $2.64 billion over the last three weeks, signaling a clear shift in market sentiment.
  • Trading Buzz: As expected, this week’s trading volume reflected the bearish sentiments prevailing in the broader crypto market. The total weekly volume fell to approximately $68 million, a sharp drop from last week’s $170 million. While this figure is a decline, the volume remains very healthy considering the current market downturn.

PIVX. Your Rights. Your Privacy. Your Choice.
To stay on top of PIVX news please visit PIVX.org and Discord.PIVX.org.

PIVX Weekly Pulse (Nov 7th, 2025 — Nov. 13th, 2025) was originally published in PIVX on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

How ChangeNOW Unlocks Private DeFi for Crypto Users

Non-custodial exchange platform ChangeNOW is positioning itself as the crucial bridge for privacy-first cryptocurrencies such as PIVX.

In a recent interview, Pauline Shangett, CSO at ChangeNOW, outlined a philosophy where user privacy is “baked in, not an add-on,” revealing how their platform’s infrastructure is designed to solve the single greatest threat to privacy-centric users: exposure through necessary financial interactions.

The Two-Minute, No-Account Privacy Pledge

PIVX provides robust, protocol-level confidentiality, but the moment a user swaps, trades, or uses DeFi, they risk creating a traceable on-chain footprint. ChangeNOW aims to eliminate that risk with a core non-custodial model that allows users to have full ownership and control of their funds throughout the exchange process.

“PIVX users can rely on our infrastructure to extend their privacy and security into the wider crypto ecosystem,” stated Shangett.

The exchange platform boasts a staggering reach, supporting swaps across 1500+ assets and 110+ blockchains, but its defining features are speed and stealth. Most exchanges are completed in under two minutes, minimizing the window for transactional analysis. Furthermore, its non-custodial design means users do not have to create complex trackable profiles.

Meanwhile, users can opt for a permanent address for repeated swaps, preventing the constant generation of new addresses that analytics firms could use to infer activity patterns.

The Bridge to Private DeFi

There is renewed interest in privacy coins, signalling a new era for the niche. Shangett envisions ChangeNOW as the essential bridge, allowing PIVX holders to access liquidity pools, lending, and yield products.

The core challenge, as Shangett notes, is that “transparency is the default” on public blockchains. ChangeNOW fights back by mitigating classic exposure points such as centralized custody and on-chain hops.

Extensive cross-chain support means PIVX can move into other chains with fewer, less traceable transitional steps. Quick processing and low minimum amounts (as little as $2) also reduce the chances of failed transactions or repeated attempts that inevitably generate extra on-chain data.

The Future of Personal Crypto Management

Looking forward, ChangeNOW is focused on evolving its tools to match the growing demand for personal control. This includes enhancing transaction history features that provide clear user data without compromising control, and continuously expanding cross-chain functionality to offer maximum diversification with minimum exposure.

The ultimate vision is a practical, user-centric collaboration: PIVX brings the deep, on-chain privacy technology, and ChangeNOW makes it accessible, flexible, and integrated for everyone around the world. The message is clear: privacy is not a luxury, and ChangeNOW is building the infrastructure to make it a right.

PIVX. Your Rights. Your Privacy. Your Choice.
To stay on top of PIVX news please visit PIVX.org and Discord.PIVX.org.

How ChangeNOW Unlocks Private DeFi for Crypto Users was originally published in PIVX on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

How to Send a Private Transaction in PIVX

One of the interesting things about PIVX is your power of choice. You can decide to transact publicly, like Bitcoin, or privately, using its advanced SHIELD protocol. Unlike many other cryptocurrencies, where transactions are fully transparent, SHIELD leverages zero-knowledge proofs to break the link between sender and receiver, ensuring your transaction amounts and balances remain completely private.

This tutorial will guide you through the process of taking your public PIV coins and turning them into private coins (aka “SHIELDING”), and then sending them privately.

Types of PIVX Transactions

Broadly speaking, there are two types of PIVX transactions — transparent and private. But technically, there are actually three types: fully transparent, semi-private, and fully private (SHIELDED).

Both the sender’s and receiver’s details are public for everyone to see in a fully transparent transaction. In a semi-private transaction, either the sender’s or receiver’s address is hidden. And you guessed right, both the sender’s and receiver’s details stay completely hidden in a fully private transaction.

Fun Fact: Did you know that sending funds from a transparent PIVX address to a private one is known as Shielding? This is similar to putting your PIVX coins into an invisibility cloak. The reverse process is known as De-Shielding.

Shielding Your PIV (Public to Private)

Shielding involves transferring your PIV from a transparent address to a private one. This process “shreds” the public transaction history and turns your PIV into private, Shielded balances. Here are the steps involved in Shielding.

  1. Open your PIVX Core Wallet or MyPIVXWallet and click on the “Send” tab. The UI varies depending on the wallet you are using.

2. Input the recipient’s shielded PIVX address. Note that shielded addresses start with a “ps” prefix while transparent addresses start with a “D”. For instance, this is what my private address looks like: ps1plde029yqszv9du7el8nyw0ynu0yamp5yc9h9v966a9s25umsz6aqnr7fts9yfjaheex566cphn

3. Enter the amount you’d like to send and click on the “Send” button.

If you are shielding your own coins, you will send them to your own shielded address, effectively moving them from the transparent side of your wallet to the private side.

Sending a Fully Private (SHIELDED) Transaction

Once your PIV coins are in your shielded balance, you can send a transaction that is completely private. This means the amount, the sender’s balance, and the receiver’s balance are all hidden on the blockchain. The steps are basically the same as what you have above. However, you need to switch to the private side of things.

Click on the “Shielded” tab if you are using the PIVX Core Wallet or “Switch to Private” if you are on MPW.

PIVX. Your Rights. Your Privacy. Your Choice.
To stay on top of PIVX news please visit PIVX.org and Discord.PIVX.org.

How to Send a Private Transaction in PIVX was originally published in PIVX on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

PIVX Weekly Pulse (Oct 31st, 2025 — Nov. 6th, 2025)

PIVX Weekly Pulse (Oct 31st, 2025 — Nov. 6th, 2025)

Your weekly PIVX update is here. We’ve condensed the most important market pulse points and community news into one essential recap for you.

Market Pulse

  • Masternode Count: The active masternode count dropped to 1,915, down from 2,047 and ending a two-week streak of growth. This decline is likely correlated with the recent price appreciation, suggesting that some operators are choosing to take profits after the rally.
  • Price Check: PIVX continued its strong bullish momentum this week, fundamentally outperforming the broader crypto market’s downturn. The leading privacy coin recorded an impressive week-over-week gain of over 40%. Its Daily USD Value ranged sharply from $0.24 to $0.35, establishing a healthy weekly average price of $0.2952 (a substantial increase from last week’s $0.2209).
  • Trading Buzz: The upward move in prices was backed by explosive trading activity. The total weekly volume soared to over $170 million, a 30% increase from the previous week’s $131 million. This spike is driven by two key factors: a major, sector-wide rally among privacy coins like Zcash and Monero, and a growing confidence among traders that PIVX’s recent rally is sustainable, attracting new capital and increasing liquidity.

PIVX. Your Rights. Your Privacy. Your Choice.
To stay on top of PIVX news please visit PIVX.org and Discord.PIVX.org.

PIVX Weekly Pulse (Oct 31st, 2025 — Nov. 6th, 2025) was originally published in PIVX on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

When Malware Learns to Think

For years, cybersecurity has been a game of digital cat and mouse. The security team releases a patch (the cat), and the hackers find a new exploit (the mouse). But what happens when the mouse starts evolving mid-chase? What could possibly go wrong when it gets an education?

If you’ve been following the headlines about artificial intelligence (AI), you’ve probably assumed the biggest risk to cybersecurity was the sheer scale of AI-generated phishing emails. Well, think again!

According to a new report, state-backed hackers have crossed a significant line. They are now deploying malware that uses Large Language Models (LLMs) to dynamically adapt during an active attack.

Welcome to the future of cyber threats, where the malware is no longer a static piece of code but a digital creature that learns, changes, and evades detection on the fly.

The Self-Evolving Threat

Cybersecurity researchers are calling this a “significant step towards more autonomous and adaptive malware.” Previously, hackers used AI for things like maximizing their victim count or writing initial malicious code, aka “vibe coding”. Now, we’re seeing AI capabilities utilized mid-execution to dynamically alter the malware’s behavior.

Think of traditional malware as a detailed, pre-planned military operation. The new AI-powered malware is a field commander who can call on an AI brain to instantly rewrite the battle plan based on real-time resistance. A few unsettling examples have already surfaced, such as:

  • PROMPTFLUX: The Rewriter. This experimental dropper malware was designed with one stunning capability. It can prompt an LLM to rewrite its own source code in order to evade security systems. While it’s currently in a testing phase and has been disrupted, the concept is terrifying. Imagine an antivirus program scanning a piece of code, only for the code to instantly transform itself, making the scan result moot.
  • PROMPTSTEAL: The Dynamic Commander. Deployed in live operations by the Russia-linked group APT28 (also known as Fancy Bear) against Ukrainian targets, this malware used LLMs to generate commands instead of relying on commands hard-coded into its script. This incident marks the first confirmed use of malware querying an LLM during an actual attack. Instead of a fixed playbook, the malware is asking its AI brain, “What’s the best command to run now?”

The AI Crime-As-a-Service Market

These methods may be experimental, but they show the clear, accelerating trajectory of advanced threats. Attackers are already moving beyond basic AI technical support and into a growing marketplace for “purpose-built” AI criminal tools.

This is perhaps the most worrying implication for the rest of us. These tools are being marketed in underground forums with language that mirrors legitimate software advertising, touting increased efficiency and streamlined workflows. This means that low-level criminals, who lack deep technical expertise, can now buy effective, sophisticated tools that were once the domain of state-sponsored operations. The barrier for complex, adaptive cybercrime is being demolished.

If the most formidable threats of tomorrow are not just simple scripts, but autonomous, adaptive programs that can rewrite their own DNA to stay alive and adjust their attack strategy based on resistance, then we have officially entered a new digital arms race.

What could possibly go wrong? Everything.

PIVX. Your Rights. Your Privacy. Your Choice.
To stay on top of PIVX news please visit PIVX.org and Discord.PIVX.org.

When Malware Learns to Think was originally published in PIVX on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Denmark Withdraws Controversial ‘Chat Control’ Proposal

Denmark’s Justice Minister has confirmed the withdrawal of the nation’s controversial draft law that aimed to mandate the scanning of electronic communications, including those on end-to-end encrypted (E2EE) platforms. The proposal, known widely as “Chat Control,” was intended as a tool in the fight against child sexual abuse materials (CSAM) but sparked an intense backlash from privacy advocates and fellow EU member states.

Danish Justice Minister Peter Hummelgaard announced late last week that his office would no longer push for the mandatory scanning requirement, opting instead to support a model for voluntary CSAM detection. The decision follows days of silence and was solidified after the German government publicly announced it would not support the measure, effectively tanking the Danish effort within the European Council presidency.

The proposed legislation would have forced technology companies to actively search all private messages for illegal content, a move critics denounced as unprecedented mass surveillance. Meredith Whittaker, President of the Signal Foundation, was a prominent voice against the measure, stating it would be a “free-for-all” that opened up the confidential communications of everyone from officials to activists. Signal had previously threatened to exit the European market entirely if the provision was adopted.

A Temporal Privacy Win

While the proposal’s withdrawal is being hailed as a victory for digital rights and encryption, the relief may be temporal. Minister Hummelgaard stressed that the current model, which allows for voluntary scanning, is set to expire in April.

“This will mean that the search warrant will not be part of the EU presidency’s new compromise proposal, and that it will continue to be voluntary for the tech giants to search for child sexual abuse material,” Hummelgaard said.

However, he immediately followed this by underscoring the urgency of finding an alternative: “Right now we are in a situation where we risk completely losing a central tool in the fight against sexual abuse of children. That’s why we have to act no matter what. We owe it to all the children who are subjected to monstrous abuse.”

The minister’s remarks indicate that while the most privacy-invasive form of the legislation has been shelved for now, the debate over how to balance child safety with fundamental digital privacy rights is far from over. The EU will likely continue to pursue a replacement framework before the April deadline, suggesting that the privacy reprieve achieved by withdrawing the Chat Control proposal is only a temporary win until a new, potentially less intrusive, but still contentious, solution is introduced.

PIVX. Your Rights. Your Privacy. Your Choice.
To stay on top of PIVX news please visit PIVX.org and Discord.PIVX.org.

Denmark Withdraws Controversial ‘Chat Control’ Proposal was originally published in PIVX on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

PIVX Core and PIVXLabs Development Reports

These reports outline ongoing development activities, testing efforts, and recent pull requests (PRs) related to PIVX core and PIVX Labs projects, including integrations, infrastructure deployments, and code improvements.

PIVX Core Development

Private Repository Activities (Currently Private):
- Testing BTC PayServer PIVX Plugin (based on Zcash implementation) for seamless payment processing.
- Testing WooCommerce Plugin for PIVX to enable e-commerce integrations.
- Developing API for CardStorm to enhance payment reliability using PIVX.

Infrastructure and Tooling Updates
Deploying Additional Infrastructure to SPMT/PET4L:
- New NGINX proxy setup for improved performance and security.
- Repository: PIVX-NGINX-Proxy

Pull Requests and Code ChangesPET4L Repository
Remove PING Function:
PR to eliminate the PING functionality for streamlined operations.
Link: PET4L/pull/28

GitHub Actions Updates:
Enhancements to CI/CD workflows for better automation and reliability.
Link: PET4L/pull/27

SPMT Repository
Superceding PR for SSL Fixes with Certifi Package:
Updates to resolve SSL issues using the Certifi package for certificate management. Link: PIVX-SPMT/pull/77

GitHub Actions Updates:
Improvements to build and deployment pipelines.
Link: PIVX-SPMT/pull/76

PIVXLabs Development

MyPIVXWallet PRs

Wallet breakdown for multi account
https://github.com/PIVX-Labs/MyPIVXWallet/pull/598

Fix short wallet names displaying incorrectly in the UI and add maxlength
https://github.com/PIVX-Labs/MyPIVXWallet/pull/600

Fix export transactions not working properly
https://github.com/PIVX-Labs/MyPIVXWallet/pull/601

Fix ledger no longer working
https://github.com/PIVX-Labs/MyPIVXWallet/pull/602

Improve ledger address confirmation screen
https://github.com/PIVX-Labs/MyPIVXWallet/pull/603

Make the wallet selection popup look like the design by meerkat
https://github.com/PIVX-Labs/MyPIVXWallet/pull/604

Fix create wallet sometimes not registering the click
https://github.com/PIVX-Labs/MyPIVXWallet/pull/605

Fix some vue warnings
https://github.com/PIVX-Labs/MyPIVXWallet/pull/606

Potentially fix a sync bug
https://github.com/PIVX-Labs/MyPIVXWallet/pull/607

Resync when shield sync fails
https://github.com/PIVX-Labs/MyPIVXWallet/pull/608

PIVXNodeController PRs

Vector PRs

Vector Bot SDK Example Fixes

A number of small fixes that didn’t make it as their own PRs were done. A basic list of what happened is as follows: Changing from manual imports to importing from crate.io, syntax changes, minor upgrades that kept the SDK on the latest version, changes and rewrites to the readme.(https://github.com/Luke-Larsen/Vector-SDK-Example/commits/main/)

Vector Bot SDK — (Starting work for groups)

This has been started but isn’t near completion yet and is still going through the creation and testing phases. (https://github.com/VectorPrivacy/Vector-SDK/tree/mls-groups)

Pulse Notifier
This was a project that was created to send messages to the team in the event that the Pulse detected something as down.
(https://github.com/Luke-Larsen/Pulse-Notifier/commits/main/)

Closed source bot work
The progress on the closed source bot has slowed due to the need to push the vector bot sdk forward. Groups are a major part of what we need for vector and due to that most other things have fallen lower on the priority list. Once the new SDK version is out with MLS we will resume this work and get a BETA out.

Summary:
PIVX and PIVXLabs are quietly rewriting the rules of blockchain privacy. While the rest of crypto chases hype, we keep our heads down and build so that our users and community have the best tools in front of them to keep their crypto safe and secure.

PIVX. Your Rights. Your Privacy. Your Choice.

PIVX Core and PIVXLabs Development Reports was originally published in PIVX on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

PIVX Weekly Pulse (Oct 24th, 2025 — Oct. 30th, 2025)

PIVX Weekly Pulse (Oct 24th, 2025 — Oct. 30th, 2025)

Time for your PIVX update! Quickly catch up on all the important market insights and key community news in this weekly recap.

Market Pulse

  • Masternode Count: The number of active PIVX masternodes continued its two-week upward trend, climbing from 2,033 to 2,047. Importantly, this growth has occurred amidst rising prices, suggesting sustained conviction and demand among operators despite the increased cost.
  • Price Check: PIVX reversed the trend this week, demonstrating strong upward momentum while the rest of the crypto market suffered bearish pressure. The asset saw dramatic daily price action, with its Daily USD Value spanning $0.17 to $0.26 and briefly spiking to an impressive $0.30. This positive movement successfully lifted the weekly average price from $0.1744 to $0.2209.
  • Trading Buzz: PIVX saw impressive trading action alongside its upward price move this week, resulting in a total weekly volume soaring to over $131 million. This figure dramatically dwarfs last week’s $30 million, reflecting a massive surge in interest and liquidity.

PIVX. Your Rights. Your Privacy. Your Choice.
To stay on top of PIVX news please visit PIVX.org and Discord.PIVX.org.

PIVX Weekly Pulse (Oct 24th, 2025 — Oct. 30th, 2025) was originally published in PIVX on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.