Today, we deployed the first beta release of the Zcash reference implementation, v1.0.0-beta1 , to the testnet. This release, Beta 1 , is the first release of the Zcash Beta Series and represents a new phase of development.

Note: the official Zcash currency is non-existent until our October 28th launch. Only testnet coins exist and they carry no value.

Zcash Beta Series The Beta series is the final phase of development prior to the launch of Zcash 1.0.0, which begins the Sprout Series. The Beta Series is notably different from our earlier alpha releases in several ways: We’re using a new versioning scheme, the first beta release is v1.0.0-beta1 , the next v1.0.0-beta2 and so on.

, the next and so on. Starting with v1.0.0-beta1 the new high level RPC interface is in place. The early RPC interface is deprecated and will be removed.

the new high level RPC interface is in place. The early RPC interface is deprecated and will be removed. Only high priority changes will be merged, including: important security mitigations, fixing bugs which inhibit basic operation, improving build, packaging, and documentation, and changes for production infrastructure. As we approach our target 1.0 Sprout launch date of October 28th, 2016, we’ll release several Beta versions. During this time we’ll be working with partners and community members to integrate Zcash into more tools, products, and services. The Zcash Beta Series is a good time for integration work for third party services and products interested in deploying Zcash support. As the Beta Series matures, we’ll enter a pre-release phase during which we’ll publish several essential items: security audit reports

proof-of-work analysis

source code and security proof of our secure parameter setup

securely generated parameters Stay tuned for those publications.