The following is an updated attempt to assess and evaluate:

  1.   Enhancements/Protocols:
  
    a. Anonymous Capabilities / Anonymity
    b. Privacy
    c) Security

  2.   The coins that currently implement these features


Every will be made to assume none of these coins are a complete solution (yet).  Not because they're bad, but because a lot of the other comparison threads out there have been polarized toward one coin as the "solution with all the best end to end features".  

I would really appreciate your thoughts and input on this work in progress, so that together, we can make it even more complicated and unreadable.




Anonymous, Privacy, and Security features are clearly all related to one another, yet in my mind are distinct:
  
Anonymous features ultimately aim for the holding and transacting of a commodity which both requires and releases zero identifying information.
              Buy a pizza.  No receipt, no exchange of information, no record of the pizza or you.
                    There are obvious legal implications to this, causing it to be a "dark" feature.
                          However, this slander assumes that the governing body itself is not "dark", or corrupt.   In many places in the world, Anonymity is a matter of life and death.
                          As such, Anonymity is a double edged sword, aiding both sinister and altruistic efforts.
                          https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anonymous_(group)
              

Privacy features aim to give ownership of identifying information to individuals/entities who hold or transact a commodity.
              Buy a pizza, there's a record of it but that record is for you (and potentially the pizza shop) only.
                    There is a legal arguement for privacy features.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Privacy_law

Security:  If you can hack the thing, you need not worry about Anonymity and Privacy.  Those are out.



Some other attempts at this:  

Full list of anonymous coins
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=1025878.0

 [DASH/XDN/XMR/SDC] Comparison between the most known anonymous coins
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=985039.0

Privacy getting important: Verge or Spectrecoin or DeepOnion??
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=2397519.0;all

Which cryptocurrency is most anonymous?
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=2157374.0


https://zcoin.io/zcoins-privacy-tec


Wondering about this one:  https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=2525344.0

OK thanks, I have the whitepaper here:   https://github.com/SuperNETorg/komodo/wiki/JUMBLR-Whitepaper

So my question would be, does this actually make Komodo more Anonymous, or does it just help to make bitcoin more anonymous in mixing?  Not to belittle that accomplishment, I just want to make sure its purpose is clearly understood.

XMR is indeed outdated by these new privacy coins i am looking forward to XSPEC's market dominance in 2018.

Interesting how each of them has one or multiple good features, but no coin in the comparison has all the features...
 That makes me wonder whether or not a coin already exists that inhabits all or simply many of these features.

If not, wouldn't that be an awesomne opportunity for people who are able to create cryptos?

That is one of the reasons I'm doing the comparison, for sure.

That said, you are looking at the beta version of this comparison chart and I am sure a lot of these coins have more features than listed.   Without a doubt I'm looking forward to others pointing out additional features, and I'll be updating it accordingly.

No question about it, no one coin currently has all the features.

This is going to be an extremely interesting thread. I've only used Monero or Dash so I don't have a lot of knowledge here and want to see how this plays out.

Thank you very much cryptomngr.   While I need to interject and suggest that 100% anonymity does not exist and may never exist, OBFS4 does seem like an excellent feature especially in countries where TOR is or may be banned/monitored.

Here is a good article on it:   https://www.maikel.pro/blog/progress-in-censorship-circumvention-tor-and-pluggable-transports-an-overview/

To my understanding, and please correct me if I'm wrong, here is my basic understanding of OBFS4:

What it does do:   It prevents detection (by monitoring ISPs or governments) of the TOR network (through obfusciation).
                           For a coin such a XSPEC, this would be a major feature as XSPEC relies on the TOR network for anonymity.  For other coins, possibly not as crucial.

What it doesn't do:   It doesn't do anything to make the actual blockchain, or transactions, more anonymous, to my knowledge (?).   It is a peripheral protection.


What I'm not sure about: I'm not sure if it hides the wallet itself from monitoring, or if it just hides the wallet's interaction with the TOR network.  In otherwords, is it just hiding TOR, or hiding other components of the crypto too?  Not sure, but I'm assuming just TOR?

Thanks cryptohunter

What features do you see in PIVX or Komodo that would lean you toward them?

That is a valid concern, but first of all, this isn't just a coin comparison.  It is a comparison of features and enhancements.  Some of which, for all we know, may be implemented in bitcoin itself one day.   In addition, I would make the counter-argument and ask if there are perhaps too many coins which aren't private?

A quick example, we were just discussing OBFS4.   This was developed for use in some countries, such as China, which will monitor the use of bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, and have in many ways already started to ban it:   https://www.forbes.com/sites/kenrapoza/2017/11/02/cryptocurrency-exchanges-officially-dead-in-china/#292786fe2a83

So...China's pretty big.

Russia's not far behind.   https://cointelegraph.com/news/putin-condemns-bitcoin-calls-for-russian-ban-of-digital-currencies

Russia's pretty big too.

Do you think we will ever hear about offenders in those countries that rubbed their government the wrong way?  Of course not, we will never hear from them and neither will anyone else, ever.

Here's another 6 countries that have banned it:   https://www.fool.com/investing/2017/12/03/6-countries-where-bitcoin-is-banned.aspx


And in North America?   There are possibly worse things than bans....there are taxes, and other ways you can be persecuted.   Have you used coinbase?   This IRS already knows you have.  I'm not saying taxes are bad, but the monitoring part is.  I would expect basically half the people on this forum will get audited.   https://www.theverge.com/2017/11/29/16717416/us-coinbase-irs-records


Also, please note that I have drawn a distinction between anonymity and privacy.   When you buy a pizza, does everyone in the world have a right to know you bought that pizza?  Is that necessary?   There are privacy considerations as well.


Anyway, I can understand the concern and I understand why the public ledger is so appealing.  But there is definitely another side to it, to say the very least.

Thanks rehydrogenated,

I have to agree with you, I think what we see is what are very early stages of the evolution (even though attempts have been made for 7 years now).

2018 will be very interesting for private/anonymous coins.  I intend to keep this updated and improve on it, so please let me know if you have suggestions/feedback/corrections.

Happy New Years!