Zcash is another digital currency just like Bitcoin. It is based on decentralised blockchain structure but ensures anonymity for parties involved in transactions. Here, the information of the sender, receiver, and the transacted amount is concealed. This peer-to-peer cryptocurrency was introduced in October 2016 as Zcash (ZEC). Zcash was obtained when Bitcoin was forked.

As Bitcoin reveals the information of both the parties and the amounts involved, Zcash employs an encrypted open ledger system, which means that all transactions on a blockchain are recorded and encrypted. With selective disclosure features, the user can share the details of a transaction to meet the compliance or audit needs.

Zcash (ZRC) started as Zerocoin by Zooko Wilcox, Founder and CEO of Zcash and was later was coined as Zcash in 2016. The company has a unique and highly knowledgeable team of engineers, scientists, crypto experts, researchers, advisors, and scientists from some of the top universities.

Zcash Working

Zcash (ZEC) uses a zk-SNARK protocol, which is a zero-knowledge proof protocol. This construction allows two users to transact on the blockchain by obfuscating the information of both the sender and receiver along with the amount. Though the Zcash blockchain reveals that transactions occurred on the blockchain, but ensures that they are untraceable.

It was developed by a group of cryptography developers and scientists in 2014 to address the privacy issues of Bitcoin (BTC). With zero-knowledge protocols, developers developed zerocoins from Bitcoins assuring anonymous payments.

Zcash Features and Capabilities

• Low-fee transactions

Zcash offers fast transactions with a low fee of 0.001 Zcash. Many leading exchanges and wallets support Zcash.

• Address and transparent privacy

Zcash provides two types of addresses. They are Shielded and Transparent. Shielded addresses are confidential; thus addresses are not revealed. Users can use viewing keys to disclose all the transaction details. Transparent addresses are viewable on the Zcash blockchain similar to that of the blockchain.

• View key and Memos

Due to anonymity in the transaction, regulation of Zcash could be an intricate process. However, the law of enforcement helps to keep a check on the regulation of Zcash using view key and memos methods.

“View Key” is given to every Zcash user. At any time, this view key can be shared with others resulting in the unmasking of all the transactions. Using the view key, sender’s and receiver’s information can be made available to the public. The “Memo” field of Zcash transaction carries additional data, which can be accessible only by the recipient.

• Transaction expiration

Zcash sets the transaction expiration to reduce the impact of non-mined blocks. Therefore, if a transaction is not mined within 50 minutes or 20 blocks, the transaction expires, and funds are unencumbered.

Enhanced ZCash Sapling

Zcash was released in 2016 as one of the leading cryptocurrencies based on zero-knowledge proofs. Another impressive upgrade known as Sapling was made on the Zcash network to improve the efficiency of zk-SNARKs. Sapling is implemented and activated on the block 419,200 on October 29, 2018, and is buzzing ever since.

Sapling increases efficiency by reducing the amount of time and memory consumed for developing zk-SNARKs. According to Zcash, the time and memory requirements for developing a shielded transaction are reduced by 90% and 97% respectively. With Sapling, the shielded transactions would need only countable seconds with only 40 MB memory.The Sapling updated reduces time by 90% and memory usage by 97%! Click To Tweet

Buying Zcash

Below is the list of exchanges that allow buying/exchanging of Zcash using various fiat or crypto coins.

• Buy ZEC on Changelly

To buy Zcash with fiat currency is not simple. Instead, Changelly offers users to exchange BTC, ETH, or LTC for Zcash.

• Buy Zcash from Other Popular Exchanges

Below is the list of favourite exchanges that allow the exchange of other crypto coins for Zcash.

1. Huobi – Supports ZEC/USDT, ZEC/BTC

2. Gate.io – Supports ZEC/BTC, ZEC/BTC

3. Binance – Supports ZEC/ETH, ZEC/BTC

4. Bitfinex – Supports ZEC/BTC, ZEC/USD

5. Bittrex – Supports ZEC/ETH, ZEC/BTC, ZEC/USD

6. Cex – Allows instant buying with Credit/Debit card

7. Kraken – Supports ZEC/BTC, ZEC/EUR, ZEC/USD

Zcash Wallets

Let’s see the list of various Zcash wallets that helps the user to store his purchased or earned Zcash crypto.

• Mobile Wallet is a virtual wallet that stores crypto coins. Some of them are Coinomi for Android, Jaxx for iOS and Android.

• Browser/Web Wallets allow users to store Zcash through an online account. This includes Jaxx for Chrome Extension.

• Some examples of desktop wallets include Jaxx and Exodus for Windows, Mac, Linux.

• Some of the popular hardware wallets that support Zcash include Trezor, Ledger Nano S.

Final Thoughts

Though Zcash offers exclusive features like anonymity, confidentiality and fungibility, Zcash has confronted some allegations that are enabling stockholders to think twice before investing. Zcash is often assessed as a platform for cybercriminals who would opt to make illegal transactions. However, people should consider legitimate reasons for a user to go anonymous, which could be to protect trade secrets from competitors.