Privacy-centered digital currency Darkcoin (DRK) is now a fully open-source cryptocurrency as it unveils its source code and moves out of the beta stages of development.

Last Monday, Darkcoin' s developers released its latest version called RC5. Following this release, the developers believed their software was ready for mainstream use and decided to open the source code of its key technology, Darksend, according to a press release. Just as Bitcoin, developers can now build upon Darkcoin's source code.

Introduced in January 2014, Darkcoin is a privacy-centered P2P cryptocurrency, initially developed as a closed-source technology.

The technology was initiated to respond to both Bitcoin's lack of privacy from its public ledger, the block chain, and its transaction processing and confirmation time, which are often being criticized for taking up to an hour.

The Darksend technology works by mixing up the fingerprints of the user's coins, a process originally based on CoinJoin transparency reduction technique. Financial records are then obscured as they are automatically split into smaller denominations and pooled with the split-up payments of others.

Darkcoin's source code release marks Darkcoin's entry into mainstream use, said core developer Evan Duffield. Further updates are expected every few months, and the Darkcoin's developers are currently working on a technology called encrypted multipath communication, a technique which will add another layer of privacy as it will enable users to communicate privately, hiding both IPs and the identity of the Darksend mixing nodes. As of multi-path routing, this technology will allow users to send more than one encrypted message using different routes on the mesh network for redundancy.

- Evan Duffield

But the most anticipated feature is without a doubt the Instant Transaction confirmation system, which would make Darkcoin transactions as fast as credit cards. Darkcoin would then become the fastest-confirming cryptocurrency in the industry.

Launched at the beginning of the year, Darkcoin's price had been on a bull run, reaching +$11/DRK at the end of May, becoming the fourth biggest cryptocurrency. Today, the price has stabilized at US$2.80, with a market capitalization of US$13,220,307. 

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