Verge (XVG) is a privacy token that was launched in 2017 by a group of individuals who believed in the mission that Verge is working on. The project is entirely open source and relies entirely on volunteers. No ICO was conducted and no coins were pre-mined.

The Privacy tokens niche is one of the more intense developments occurring in the cryptocurrency space. While other tokens offer a limited degree of anonymity - they are pseudonymous, not anonymous - many projects are working on technologies that offer complete anonymity i.e. transaction amounts, and the sender and receiver’s addresses are all hidden. 

There are multiple approaches to how this can be done, and several projects are employing very unique solutions. Verge’s answer to this problem is to use the Wraith protocol, along with integration with Tor and I2P to completely shield transaction information.

Similarly, privacy focused projects are increasingly working towards offering both fully private and exposed transactions, the latter being useful for such cases as auditing. Verge is doing this through its Wraith protocol, which lets users switch between shielded and unshielded transactions. 

2019 has seen the Verge team release a fully-featured iOS wallet, an online merchandise store and a revised “blackpaper.” Verge’s current development goals include another privacy-enhancing technique, Ring Confidential Transactions, which is described as being nearly halfway to completion. Other goals for 2019 include a desktop wallet, which is nearly complete, and RSK smart contract integration.