MimbleWimble’s latest release for LTC and its impact

MimbleWimble happens to be a blockchain protocol that increases the privacy level of the network by getting rid of the addresses in a transaction, thus making it significantly different from the pioneering blockchain protocol offered by Bitcoin. As a result of this major USP, several mainstream cryptocurrency networks have also inclined towards switching over to MimbleWimble, or at least they have started planning future projects on this protocol.

One of the most anticipated moves was made by Litecoin in the Q4 of 2020 where they launched the MimbleWimble testnet for the LTC network, but it was kept in a beta version and was only accessible to developers for extensive testing. However, it will be released for the public in 2021 and that would be a very major USP for investors to start pouring their money into Litecoin. It is worth noting that although Litecoin is a decent project and offers a tough competition to Bitcoin in terms of a better architecture, the coin had a very tough 2020 as it could not achieve its ATH glory, whereas most of its competitors set their new ATHs. Therefore, this security upgrade could be a game-changer for Litecoin in both, short and long terms.

Apart from the fact that MW offers high privacy, it provides greater prospects for scalability as well and since the adoption for Litecoin is expected to grow after this upgrade, the network would certainly need a better architecture for scalability. The following list presents a few more benefits that LTC network would enjoy:

• The blocks will be compact as they will take less amount of data. Hence, the processing and verification of data will be more efficient
• The inputs and outputs of all blocks will be encrypted
• There won’t be any reusable addresses because for all outsiders, the block appears to be a huge transaction and no combinations can be determined. Therefore, individual inputs and outputs can never be linked together as asymmetry is maintained intentionally in this collection

Even in the bullish market, LTC is roughly half the value of its ATH in 2017, which was around $365. Although the community appreciates the project for faster transaction speed, the concerns revolving around security and privacy have grown exponentially (generally) in the crypto sphere and therefore, any project that stresses enhancing these two factors would certainly enjoy an edge in the market.

However, it is also quite evident that regulators are coming hard on privacy-centric coins as it’s not in their interest when it comes to taxation and money laundering. But since privacy happens to be a core concern for all users and the focus of cryptocurrencies is mainstream users, not the governments, their backlash can only be deemed as a byproduct of attempting to make the platform stronger and better.