What is PIVX, and why is it 160% up this week?

Cryptocurrency PIVX (PIVX) has seen a meteoric rise in price over the past week, leaving many in the crypto community wondering — what is PIVX and what is causing this massive surge?

PIVX is a privacy-focused cryptocurrency that uses advanced cryptography protocols to protect users’ financial data and provide anonymity. It was launched in January 2016 as a fork of Bitcoin and Dash, with the goal of creating a decentralized, community-governed cryptocurrency focused on financial privacy through features like stealth addresses and anonymous transactions.

Over the past week, PIVX has shot up over 160%, going from around $0.22 last Wednesday to over $0.58 today. The rise came very soon before yesterday’s listing announcement from leading crypto exchange Binance, which said it would begin PIVX/USDT trading pairs starting Nov. 16.

Binance’s announcement lent legitimacy to PIVX, exposing it to Binance’s massive userbase and likely driving significant new demand and liquidity for the formerly obscure privacy coin. The timing coincided perfectly with privacy and anonymity gaining increased interest and value in the crypto sector.

PIVX uses zero-knowledge proof cryptography called zk-SNARKs to create anonymous transactions, ensuring users’ financial data and activity is completely private. This zk-SNARKs protocol is called SHIELD in PIVX.

Beyond privacy, PIVX utilizes proof-of-stake consensus. PIVX also supports fast transactions with SwiftX, real-time decentralized governance through masternode voting, and cold staking capabilities.