All KMD funds currently held in a private z-address must be moved into a transparent address before February 15, 2019.

The founding idea for the Komodo project was born in early 2016 when Lead Developer James “jl777” Lee published the Blockchain Declaration of Independence. Later that year, the Komodo ICO raised a modest amount of BTC, most of which was set aside to fund the delayed Proof of Work security mechanism. Then, in January 2017, the Komodo mainnet was launched.

Over the past 2 years, Komodo has demonstrated a commitment to innovation and established a history of execution. With one groundbreaking achievement after another, Komodo has earned a reputation as an industry-leader in the blockchain technology space.

As Komodo continues to evolve, it’s essential to demonstrate the potential of Komodo’s technology. A unique multi-chain architecture allows Komodo to host an unlimited number of independent, application-specific blockchains.

To show the blockchain industry the level of flexibility a multi-chain architecture provides, the Komodo management team has decided to dedicate the main KMD blockchain to only KMD transactions and delayed Proof of Work (dPoW) notarizations. This will help Komodo prepare for the launch of KMD 2.0 and accommodate for future growth in the ecosystem.

As a result, z-transaction functionality will be disabled on the KMD chain on February 15, 2019. The Komodo Development Team will create a second blockchain that will be interlinked with the main KMD chain. The new interlinked chain will offer zero-knowledge privacy and Custom Consensus framework functionality, as well as newly-developed test features.

It’s important to emphasize that this level of adaptability is available to all projects that build with Komodo’s technology. Specific features, such as z-transaction privacy, can simply be disabled without causing any issues to the blockchain in question. At the same time, a new purpose-specific blockchain can be spawned and provided complete blockchain interoperability with the first chain. No other blockchain platform has the technology to offer such modular, adaptable solutions.

Komodo to Disable Z-Transactions on Feb 15

All KMD funds currently held in a private z-address must be moved into a transparent address before February 15, 2019.

When the original announcement for the Komodo ICO was made on September 1, 2016, Komodo was described as a coin with “Zero Knowledge Privacy Secured by Bitcoin.” Privacy was one of the core components of Komodo’s messaging in the early days of the project.

Now, several years later, Komodo has grown into something much greater than a simple privacy coin. Privacy is still important but it’s just one of many optional features available to projects that launch an independent blockchain with Komodo’s technology.

Any project that builds with Komodo can create a dPoW-secured blockchain with zero-knowledge proof transactions. In fact, z-transactions can even be made mandatory, if desired. This is just one example of the millions of options available to projects that use Komodo to launch a customizable, independent blockchain.

To reflect this transformation from an ultra-secure privacy coin to an industry-leading multi-chain platform, Komodo is disabling private z-transactions on the KMD blockchain. Rather than keeping privacy features on the main KMD chain, a pegged side chain will offer zero-knowledge proof transactions to those who want to protect their privacy.

As a result of these changes, all KMD must be moved out of z-addresses before February 15.

Instructions for Users with Funds in a Z-Address

Storing KMD funds in a z-address requires downloading the entire KMD blockchain and running the Agama wallet in Native Mode. If you are not running Agama in Native Mode, then you cannot have funds in a z-address and you don’t need to make any changes or move any funds.

If you are running Agama in Native Mode and aren’t sure whether or not you have funds in a z-address, simply look at the first letter of the address in which your KMD is stored. Transparent KMD addresses always begin with the letter R. If your funds are in an address that begins with the letter R, then you don’t need to make any changes or move any funds.

If you have any KMD stored in an address that starts with the letter z, then you need to move these funds to a public address before February 15, 2019.

If you have funds in a z-address, the balance will appear in this box when you open Agama wallet.

All you need to do is send the funds to a transparent R-address that you control. For detailed instructions on how to move funds from a private address to a transparent address, please see this guide from the Komodo Support/QA Team.

If all of your funds appear in the “Transparent Balance” box, then you don’t have any funds in a z-address.

All KMD funds currently held in a private z-address must be moved into a transparent address before February 15, 2019.

New Wallet Encryption Feature To Become Available

An additional benefit to disabling z-transactions on the KMD blockchain is that a wallet encryption feature will become available to all users.

Storing funds in a z-address is a valuable privacy feature, but it’s only available to those who use Agama in Native Mode or run the Komodo daemon on their computer. At the time of writing, only about 91,000 KMD, or less than 0.1% of KMD supply, is stored in private z-addresses.

With z-transactions being disabled, the encrypt feature will be made available to all. In short, this encrypts your wallet.dat file. With this security feature activated, funds cannot be transferred out of your wallet and your private keys cannot be exported. The only way to send funds or get the private keys is to decrypt the wallet.dat file, which can be done by entering a password.

The encrypt wallet feature is an easy way to add an extra layer of security to your funds. To learn more about this feature, see this guide from the Komodo Support/QA Team.

A New Interlinked Blockchain Solution Is Coming

The Komodo Development Team is in the early stages of creating an interlinked chain that will offer z-transaction privacy and Custom Consensus module functionality. The new chain will be tied to the main KMD chain with the Gateways Custom Consensus module.

Users who wish to store funds in a z-address will have that option on the side chain. They will simply need to convert KMD to the new pegged asset and move those funds to a z-address. The funds could then be converted back to KMD at a 1:1 rate at any point in time.

This interlinked chain solution is only possible with Komodo’s flexible multi-chain architecture and the cutting-edge Custom Consensus framework technology. Creating an independent blockchain with Komodo is a quick and easy process. Pegging that chain to the main KMD chain and making it fungible is a bit trickier, but the fact that it is possible demonstrates the enormous potential of Komodo’s technology. These solutions are available to anyone who wants to build with Komodo.

More information will be released about this interlinked chain as development continues.

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