ZCASH is the virtual cryptocurrency linked to the ZCASH blockchain, which resulted from a fork of the Bitcoin protocol. ZCash building on Bitcoin’s existing capabilities, with the focus of being privacy.
Similar to Bitcoin, ZCASH is considered to be a true cryptocurrency that is used to facilitate payments, where ZCASH payments are published on a public blockchain, as is the case with Bitcoin. On the ZCASH blockchain, ZCASH users are able to use an additional feature that allows users to conceal sender, recipient and amount being sent across the network.
The privacy functionality on the blockchain is an optional one.
There are a finite number of ZCASH coins, the total number being 21 million, a concept that does not exist in the world of fiat currencies, where governments and central banks are able to print more fiat money to sustain false economies that motivated the creation of Bitcoin and ultimately ZCASH.
ZCASH was founded by Zooko Wilcox-O’Hearn and launched in October 2016
The creation of each individual ZCASH coin comes from mining, which stems from a reward mechanism for miners verifying transactions on the ZCASH blockchain.
Due to the option to remain private, zero-knowledge proof-of-construction called zk-SNARK is used in the verification process. The construction enables the network to maintain a secure ledger of balance, without disclosing parties and amounts involved in each transaction. The zk-SNARK protocol proves that there was no fraud or theft.
Some distinct differences and characteristics of ZCASH include:
- There are no physical ZCASH coins, only virtual.
- Unlike fiat currencies, where governments and central banks are able to print more money, there are a finite number of ZCASH coins.
- The very nature of the ZCASH decentralized blockchain means that the payment system runs 24-hours a day, with no downtime and has no restrictions on where and to whom ZCASH coins can be sent.
- The average block time is 2.5 minutes.
- While the block time is quicker thank Bitcoin, ZCASH has the same issuance rate as Bitcoin, with the ZCASH blockchain having 4x Bitcoin’s reward that has a half-life of 4-years.
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