Anonymity using TOR, DeepOnion vs Verge. Which will come out on top?

I don't think anyone in the crypto investing space could have missed the huge surge that Verge has had in the last few weeks smashing in to the top 20 cryptos on CoinMarketCap. I must admit that before a few weeks ago I hadn't really given much thought to Verge and the features it offers. Imagine my surprise when I started to look into Verge and reading things like:

• "Verge is a secure and anonymous cryptocurrency, built with a focus on privacy"
• "Verge uses multiple anonymity-centric networks such as Tor and I2P. The IP addresses of the users are obfuscated and the transactions are completely untraceable."

My first thought was: "Doesn't this sound a lot like DeepOnion?!". In order to figure this out I dived into the "Black Paper" of Verge to do a comparison between the two.

IP protection and anonymous transactions

IP protection is in both cases achieved by integration into the Tor network. Anonymous transactions is also something that both coins support albeit in different ways.
Verge ensures this by supporting IPv6 and I2P transactions, to read more about this and why it is anonymous, check out the Black Paper.
DeepOnion plans to ensures anonymous transactions using the feature DeepSend which is based on a tried and tested method, first developed by SuperCoin. For more information about this feature please check out this post on DeepSend.

Transaction Speed

Verge seems to have the possibility of higher transaction speeds at 100 tx/sec compared to DeepOnions 62.5 tx/sec which could be seen as a small plus in favour of Verge. But both coins are faster than LiteCoin (56 tx/sec) and even when looking at a global usecase I don't see a major drawback with DeepOnion having i slightly lower transaction speed.

Mobile Wallet

Both DeepOnion and Verge are close to releasing their first Android Wallet. Here Verge is slighty ahead since they are claiming that their I2P Android Wallet will be able to support anonymous mobile transactions. That is something that will not be available for DeepOnion until the launch of DeepSend, which is planned in Q2 of 2018. This release, together with the Wraith Protocol supporting both a public and private ledger, are the reasons Verge has been surging in the last few weeks. But maybe this is a precurser to what can happen to DeepOnion when DeepSend is released?! Something to keep in mind!

Smart Contracts

Another thing DeepOnion has coming in Q2 is the support of Smart Contracts. Not much is know as of yet, exactly how this will be implemented, so it is a wait and see game in the case of DeepOnion. Verge has some more information regarding their Smart Contract implementation, they are planning to use so called: RSK Smart Contracts that will run in an independent blockchain without it's own token . The Verge Black Paper mentions something interesting which seems to imply that in the future the RSK independent blockchain might be able to support up to 2000 tx/sec using 2nd layer technology. There is no information exactly when this can be expected but I felt it worth noting.

Conclusions

Overall I found a lot of similarities between the two coins in regards to IP protection and anonymous transactions. Also in the plans for future developments, such as Andriod Wallet and Smart Contracts. It is clear that Verge is slightly ahead in the development stage than DeepOnion, which explains the difference in market cap evaluation. But just looking at the feature set there is not much difference between the two, except maybe for slightly higher transactions speeds for Verge. There is no doubt that Verge currently should have (and has: $2.2B) a higher evaluation than DeepOnion ($30M) but what is going to happen after Q2 with the launch of DeepSend and Smart Contracts is someting I am looking forward to seeing!

As a final note of interest is that there are some unique features that DeepOnion has that I am really excited about. The features I am refering to are: DeepVault, VoteCentral and PoS staking (starting at 10% annual and decreasing over time). Verge also has some interesting unique features in: Atomic Swaps, Stealth Addressing and Multi-signiture Support.

I could go into depth about these features but that was not the goal of this article and would make it too long a read. It was to compare DeepOnion to Verge more from a privacy coin perspective. If you want to find out more about the DeepOnion features check out my other articles or visit the DeepOnion Homepage and for the Verge features you can find all the information in the Black Paper.

Final Grading

• Verge: 4 out 5 stars. Black Paper is very well written, the technological base is very sound and it for sure a top contender among the privacy coins. The already high evaluation and the feeling that I am missing some more unique features, such as the Wraith Protocol, causes it not quite to reach higher.
• DeepOnion: As is currently it can't compete with Verge and I would have to give it a lower grade, but you can't just look at the current state. You must also look at the potential it has and in my opinion it is a 4.5 out of 5 star evaluation. With current market cap as low as it is, it's unique features and with the upcoming releases for Q2 I can definetly see this coin blasting into the top 20 cryptos within the next six months. The only reason this isn't a full 5/5 is because there is still some missing information regarding the Smart Contracts implementation. This might be cleared up in the upcoming Whitepaper release and then I see this as a full 5/5 stars.