Zcash ZEC

1. Summary

Fundamental Rank

Developer Rank

Social Rank

Coinrank

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Binance

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BlockFi

Price

$110.62 -0.3%

Market Cap

$1.29B (#75)

Supply

11.62M / 21.00M

Tags

Privacy Coins

Description

Zcash or ZEC is known for using advanced cryptography with the intention of offering users optional anonymity when it comes to making transactions.

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Zcash or ZEC is known for using advanced cryptography with the intention of offering users optional anonymity when it comes to making transactions.

Keep in mind that before its invention, all of the data about the amount users exchange, the addresses that they send the funds to, as well as the addresses they received funds from were recorded on the blockchain, and anyone could view this information.

This meant that the data, in some way, could be linked back to the individual who made transactions. Seeing this as an issue, Zcash launched in 2016 and offered a high level of privacy by introducing what is known as shielded addresses which were designed to encrypt the transactions as well as the address data stored on the blockchain.

The beauty here though is the fact that Zcash lets users choose their level of anonymity. There are two types of addresses through which this is done, you have transparent addresses that do indeed appear on the blockchain and shielded addresses that do not actually appear on the blockchain.

The ZEC Token Explained

ZEC has a maximum cap of 21 million ZEC, which means that there can never be more than that amount of ZEC tokens generated. New ZEC tokens are introduced through mining, where computers can contribute their power to solve cryptographic puzzles where the ones that deliver the most power and win can add blocks to the Zcash blockchain, similarly to how Bitcoin works.

The main reason why ZEC tokens actually hold value is due to the fact that, as the cryptocurrency market grows, there is a constant rise of users that want to integrate or seek out a blockchain that offers them a higher level of privacy.

Features of Zcash

Zcash implements a cryptographic method through which anyone who has private data can convince someone that wants to verify that the data is true without revealing anything other than a true or false statement. Zcash uses a variation of the zero-knowledge proofs known as zk-SNARK for the shielded transactions which ensures that the verifier cannot learn anything about the data other than if it is true or false, and this proof is small enough to be verified in milliseconds, without any communication between the prover and the verifier. No prover can make a verifier accept false information and a prover cannot prove information unless there is actual verifiable information to prove.

Shielded as well as unshielded Zcash transactions are verified by nodes, then recorded on the blockchain. The blocks are added through an open network of computers that use an algorithm known as Equihash. This calculates the amount of RAM a miner is using to secure the blockchain.

Founders of Zcash (ZEC)

Discussing the founders of Zcash, it is actually a project founded in 2016 by Zooko Wilcox-O'Hearn who is also a computer security expert as well as an entrepreneur. He also founded the Electronic Coin Company (ECC) which actually manages the development of Zcash. Alongside this, he has also founded Least Authority Enterprises which is a technology company on a mission to improve digital security and privacy which co-invented the BLAKE3 cryptographic hash function which is interesting.

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