Particl

Particl (PART) is a cryptocurrency launched in 2017. Its design fuses a privacy-centric blockchain with a smart contract platform, operating as an open-source ecosystem for decentralized applications.

The network’s signature utility centers on a fully private, decentralized marketplace that accommodates almost any cryptocurrency. Sellers and buyers transact via a low-fee, encrypted environment where default private transactions, metadata stripping, and IP anonymization render commercial activity invisible to external observers. This structure directly targets the friction of data leakage and surveillance endemic to conventional online commerce.

Particl operates on its own blockchain using a proof-of-stake consensus mechanism. The codebase forked directly from Bitcoin Core—continuously updated to align with its latest releases—infusing the network with Bitcoin’s battle-tested security while layering native privacy and smart contract functionality atop it.

Ring Confidential Transactions (RingCT) obscure amounts and sender-recipient graphs, while the platform supports three distinct transaction states: Public, Blind, and Anonymous, each with configurable cost and unlinkability. Cold staking functionality, enabled by smart contracts, separates staking power from fund custody; dedicated staking nodes validate blocks on behalf of offline wallets without ever controlling the underlying coins. Atomic swaps facilitate the frictionless conversion of incoming currencies into PART, wrapping external assets in the protocol's privacy shield.

The project emerged from a community-driven fork in 2017, with a genesis block on July 17 of that year. No single figurehead dominates its origin story; rather, a collective of developers coalesced around the idea of refactoring Bitcoin’s code for autonomous commerce. The Particl Desktop wallet soon became the hub—functioning as client, marketplace interface, and DApp launcher—accelerating early adoption among privacy-focused users.

The overarching mission is a decentralized, democratic economy where privacy is not an opt-in luxury but the architectural default. Particl envisions a self-sustaining ecosystem where marketplace operators, buyers, and sellers interact under the protection of zero-knowledge proofs without sacrificing usability or scalability. It seeks to dismantle the data monetization models that underpin surveillance capitalism.

PART tokens grease every operational wheel. They pay transaction fees and marketplace commissions, which then flow directly to stakers securing the network. Governance of the protocol and its marketplace rests exclusively with the community of PART holders, who vote on fee structures, development proposals, and integration parameters. The token’s triple-state sending capability allows users to dial privacy up or down based on the transaction’s context.

Validators lock PART in staking nodes to produce blocks and earn a proportional share of all platform-generated fees. Users who prefer not to run a node can delegate their stake to cold staking nodes, keeping their coins in cold storage while still collecting rewards. Merchants who accept various cryptocurrencies via atomic swaps effectively turn their revenue into automatically shielded PART, gaining immediate access to the marketplace’s privacy infrastructure.

Particl has a total supply of 15,701,752 tokens. Currently, 15,701,689 are in circulation. The protocol’s fee-redistribution model ensures that stakers continuously capture value from marketplace activity, with no predetermined hard cap on the token supply. With a market capitalization of $2,705,830, Particl ranks #2,085 among all cryptocurrencies.