What is Zcash?
Zcash was born in 2016 as an alternative to Monero and serves as a means of acquiring goods and services, transfer of funds between users who have ZEC in their digital wallet and protecting the anonymity of users who transact with it, using advanced cryptographic technology to make it impossible to find out who is behind a money transfer. ZEC since its inception has been mined on a large scale by a large number of miners. It has become highly relevant after it was publicly endorsed by Edward Snowden, the former NSA worker, and a guru in the world of computer privacy. Even Vitalik Buterin, the creator of Ethereum, was an advisor to the team. The Zcash team is led by Zooko Wilcox, one of the first employees of DigiCash created by David Chaum. Because of her experience gained at DigiCash and in the crypto field, Zooko has become one of the most respected members of the crypto community. Few cryptocurrencies have generated as much enthusiasm as this one, and to no surprise, given their great team of engineers.
How Zcash works
A key innovation from Zcash is zk-SNARKs technology, a type of zero-knowledge proof that allows transactions to be sent between parties without any information other than the validity of the transaction being revealed. The sender generates a data string consisting of an expense key, a view key, and a billing address. The sender cannot generate this line if he does not own the spending keys or if the send and receive values are not equal. Zk-SNARKs also creates a unique nullifying function that marks tokens as spent after the transaction is completed. Typically, the collection of billing addresses, browse keys, and expense keys is encrypted and inaccessible to users. Thus, the transaction is verified while maintaining the confidentiality of its details. However, Zcash can conduct public transactions, providing, in this case, all the key data.
Advantages and disadvantages of Zcash
+ Zcash's greatest achievement so far is taking Monero's crown off. Other cryptocurrencies did not guarantee their holders the ability to protect their data. Zcash’s goal is to allow the absolute privacy of transactions to be optional. It is needed to permit the users of the currency to display their payments for auditing purposes so they can be in compliance with the laws against money laundering in their countries, as well as with the payment of taxes.
+ The enthusiasm for its potential and the issuance model that the Zcash team chose for the coin — albeit with good intentions — contributed to skyrocketing its price after launch, forming a typical bubble. In the same way that happened when Bitcoin was launched, the Zcash issuance model was ethical, with the difference that when the first cryptocurrency was created there was no public pending. Instead, when Zcash coin was finally available it seemed that the entire crypto world was aware and wanted them.
- The biggest challenge is the fight against cybercrime. A platform that allows you to hide, with no possibility of hacking, those who transact on your Blockchain is fertile ground for purposes like money laundering. It can be done outside the surveillance of the authorities through Zcash and has even led to the withdrawal of this cryptocurrency from places of importance of Coinbase, despite repeated efforts by Zcash's team to make it clear that they don't support crime. Rather, it aims to return power to users over their own data.
How to mine Zcash
To mine Zcash, you only need a computer with sufficient capacity and speed and then extract coins without paying a penny. Zcash mining is not profitable in some cases since it consumes many computer hardware resources and generates many costs. Zcash continues to be less widespread and it is not yet necessary to have the powerful computer equipment to mine the currency, it is still possible to find small Zcash miners.
How to buy Zcash
On exchange platforms you can find out daily how currency pairs change. ZEC is available on such platforms as Binance, BKEX, MXC. Users typically exchange their BTC, USDT, BCH, TRY, ETH, and EUR for ZEC. You can also get Zcash on the SwapSpace cryptocurrency exchange aggregator, which is a quick and easy way to obtain the required amount of ZEC.
How to exchange ZEC on SwapSpace?
- On SwapSpace homepage, select ZEC in “You send” section and the cryptocurrency you would like to receive in “You get” section. Enter the amount of ZEC you want to exchange.
- Choose the instant exchange service that suits you most.
- Specify the recipient address and check if all the data is correct.
- Send your ZEC coins to the address you will see on the screen.
- Wait until the exchange is complete.
How to store Zcash
Once the credit is obtained, these platforms often include the possibility of storing the credit in wallets within the platform, but it is more advisable to send the Zcash to private wallets, to avoid possible hacker attacks or that the platform declares insolvency. Another option is to use instant exchanges like Swapspace that don’t store users’ funds. Zcash wallets include several well-known wallets, for example, Ledger, Atomic Wallet, and Jaxx.
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