Ether, the cryptocurrency powering Ethereum blockchain protocol has once again gained the trading community’s attention. The second largest cryptocurrency recently exhibited an unprecedented growth in its value, influencing many to invest in the digital currency. The positive development has allowed ether to receive support from the unlikeliest of all sectors— the dark web.
AlphaBay, one of the leading dark web marketplaces has announced that its customers can soon start paying for their purchases with ether. Reports suggest that the platform’s admin first made the announcement in one of the dark net forums. The news later made it to other social media platforms including the Reddit.
The new cryptocurrency payment option is set to make an appearance at the beginning of May 2017. Media outlets have quoted the dark net marketplace’s admin saying,
“We are currently laying out the framework to make ETH acceptance possible, and we will enable Ethereum deposits and withdrawals starting May 1st, 2017.”
In addition to the newly included Ethereum, the AlphaBay marketplace also supports Bitcoin, and the privacy oriented Monero cryptocurrency tokens. According to reports, the implementation of Ethereum on AlphaBay was influenced by the recent adoption of zkSNARKs — Non-interactive zero-knowledge proof technology on the cryptocurrency platform which imparts anonymity to ether transactions.
Just like in the case of Monero, the marketplace’s announcement to include Ethereum support fueled further demand for the cryptocurrency, driving its price up. However, not everyone is convinced by the decision taken by AlphaBay as some believe that the levels of security and anonymity offered by ETH or the anonymous Bitcoin fork – ZCash are debatable at best.
The Ethereum platform has received a lot of traction from legitimate businesses, mainly for its smart contracts capabilities. Many banking and financial institutions are already working on creating various applications built on the technology. The creation of Enterprise Ethereum Alliance recently is another achievement in this direction. The adoption on AlphaBay represents the other end of the customer base who also appreciate the digital currency.
Ref: Bleeping Computer | Image: NewsBTC
