Zcash
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Developer(s) Electric Coin Company (zcashd), Zcash Foundation (zebra) | | |
Source model | Open source | |
---|---|---|
License | MIT (main zcashd code); MIT/Apache (zebra and some support libraries); BOSL (orchard) | |
Ledger | ||
Hash function | Equihash | |
Issuance schedule | Similar to Bitcoin, with "slow start" and different block interval | |
Block reward | 3.125 ZEC (80% to miners; 20% is portioned out to a Major Grants Fund (8%), Electric Coin Co (7%), and the Zcash Foundation (5%)), from Canopy upgrade until first halving[2][3] | |
Block time | 75 seconds (post-Blossom upgrade)[2] | |
Block explorer | zcashblockexplorer | |
Supply limit | 21,000,000[2] | |
Website | ||
Website | z | |
Zcash is a privacy-focused cryptocurrency which is based on Bitcoin's codebase.[4] It shares many similarities, such as a fixed total supply of 21 million units.[5]
Transactions can be transparent, similar to bitcoin transactions, or they can be shielded transactions which use a type of zero-knowledge proof to provide anonymity in transactions. Zcash coins are either in a transparent pool or a shielded pool.
Zcash offers private transactors the option of "selective disclosure", allowing a user to prove payment for auditing purposes. One such reason is to make it easier for private transactors to comply with anti-money laundering laws and tax regulations.[6]
Use
Zcash transactions can be transparent, similar to bitcoin transactions, in which case they are controlled by a "t-addr", or they can be shielded and are controlled by a "z-addr". A shielded transaction uses a type of zero-knowledge proof, specifically a non-interactive zero-knowledge proof, called "zk-SNARK", which provides anonymity to the coin holders in the transaction. Zcash coins are either in a transparent pool or a shielded pool. As of December 2017 only around 4% of Zcash coins were in the shielded pool and at that time most cryptocurrency wallet programs did not support z-addrs and no web-based wallets supported them.[7] The shielded pool of Zcash coins were further analyzed for security and it was found that the anonymity set can be shrunk considerably by heuristics-based identifiable patterns of usage.[8]
While miners receive 80% of a
History
Development work on Zcash began in 2013 by Johns Hopkins University professor Matthew Green and some of his graduate students.[5] The development was completed by the for-profit Zcash Company, led by Zooko Wilcox, a Colorado-based computer security specialist and cypherpunk.[5] In October 2016, The Zcash Company raised over $3 million from Silicon Valley venture capitalists to complete the development of Zcash.[5]
Zcash was first mined in late October 2016.[11] The initial demand was high, and within a week Zcash coins were trading for five thousand dollars a piece.[11] Ten percent of all coins mined for the first four years were to be allotted to the Zcash Company, its employees, the investors, and the non-profit Zcash Foundation.[5]
The setup of Zcash required the careful execution of a trusted setup procedure — something that subsequently became known as "The Ceremony" — to create the Zcash
On February 21, 2019, the "Zcash Company" announced a re-branding as the Electric Coin Company (ECC).[15]
On May 19, 2020, a paper titled "Alt-Coin Traceability"
On June 8, 2020,
On October 12, 2020, the Electronic Coin Company announced a new non-profit 501(c)3 organization called the Bootstrap Project (Bootstrap) in a company blog post titled "ECC’s owners to donate ECC".[19] A majority of the investors and owners of Zerocoin Electric Coin Company LLC (ECC) have agreed to donate the ECC company as the wholly owned property of Bootstrap.[19] ECC's blog post claims that nothing will change within the company other than the ownership[19] including the Board of Directors.[19] On October 27, 2020, ECC announced that its shareholders have officially voted in favor of donating 100 percent of the company's shares to Bootstrap.[20] On March 30, 2021, the company's transparency report said that it is "now a wholly owned entity of the 501(c)3 Bootstrap".[21][22]
In September 2023, a mining pool named ViaBTC had seized control of over half the hashing power on Zcash. This 51% dominance raised worries about an attack a 51% attack where they could potentially manipulate transactions and harm the network. To shield users from the potential fallout, Coinbase swiftly enacted a series of defensive measures, including placing Zcash markets into "limit-only" mode, effectively quelling significant price swings while the situation unfolded. [23]
See also
- Legality of bitcoin by country
- Zerocoin protocol
- SNARK
References
- ^ "Releases - zcash/zcash". Retrieved 4 April 2023 – via GitHub.
- ^ a b c "Frequently Asked Questions - Zcash". Zcash. Retrieved 10 July 2019.
- ^ "Canopy". Retrieved 17 April 2023.
- ^ "The Basics | Zcash". Zcash. Retrieved 10 July 2020.
- ^ a b c d e Popper, Nathaniel (31 October 2016). "Zcash, a Harder-to-Trace Virtual Currency, Generates Price Frenzy". The New York Times.
- ^ Clozel, Lalita (31 October 2016). "How Zcash Tries to Balance Privacy, Transparency in Blockchain". American Banker.
- arXiv:1712.01210 [cs.CR].
- ^ ISBN 978-1-939133-04-5.
- ^ "Zcash development and governance - Zcash". Zcash. Retrieved 22 June 2021.
- ^ "Reaching Consensus". Electric Coin Company. Retrieved 22 June 2021.
- ^ a b Elaine, Ou (1 November 2016). "Bitcoin Isn't Anonymous Enough". Bloomberg.com. Bloomberg. Retrieved 17 November 2020.
- National Public Radio. Retrieved 29 June 2021.
- ^ "Zcash: Meet Zooko Wilcox, the Man Building a Better Bitcoin | Fortune". 21 December 2017. Archived from the original on 21 December 2017. Retrieved 27 December 2022.
- ^ "Edward Snowden says he was the mystery man involved in the creation of leading privacy cryptocurrency Zcash". Fortune. Retrieved 2 November 2022.
- ^ "Goodbye, Zcash Company. Hello, Electric Coin Company". Electric Coin Company. 21 February 2019. Retrieved 9 November 2020.
- ^ Ye, Claire; Ojukwu, Chinedu; Hsu, Anthony; Hu, Ruiqi (2020). "Alt-Coin Traceability". Cryptology ePrint Archive.
- ^ a b "Introducing Investigation and Compliance Support for Dash and Zcash". blog.chainalysis.com. 8 June 2020. Retrieved 5 September 2020.
- ^ Silfversten, Erik; Favaro, Marina; Slapakova, Linda; Ishikawa, Sascha; Liu, James; Salas, Adrian (6 May 2020). "Exploring the use of Zcash cryptocurrency for illicit or criminal purposes".
- ^ a b c d "ECC's owners to donate ECC". Electric Coin Company. 12 October 2020. Retrieved 8 November 2020.
- ^ "ECC owners approve donation to Bootstrap Project". Electric Coin Company. 27 October 2020. Retrieved 9 November 2020.
- ^ "ECC Transparency Report for Q3 2020". Electric Coin Company. 30 March 2021. Archived from the original on 30 March 2021. Retrieved 2 April 2021.
- ^ "Electric Coin Co. Transparency Report March 2021" (PDF). 31 March 2021. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2 April 2021. Retrieved 2 April 2021.
- ^ "Crypto and the Curse of the 51%". Bloomberg.com. 26 September 2023. Retrieved 24 December 2023.