When people initiate conversations about cryptocurrencies, the first thing that often came to their mind are always bitcoin. However, by being the first ever cryptocurrencies, there are various serious downsides of this coin hiding behind its glorious status. When Bitcoin first became a hit, people think that eventually Bitcoin will grow to a point that it can outdo paper money and fiat currencies we know today and become the best and ultimate transaction solutions. Since there are some fundamental flaws which lies in the core of Bitcoin, many other altcoins had come out from Bitcoin’s inspiration including Zcash.
Zcash is a fork from the Bitcoin blockchain back in 2016. The reasons for the fork is that Bitcoin failed to provide privacy on the transactions being conducted. Although the idea of a public and yet transparent blockchain like bitcoin is extremely intriguing, however in real world applications, besides contradicted with the modern notions of privacy, it can also be problematic when used in certain situations. By utilising cryptography, Z cash is able to provide high level of privacy for the users when compared to other non-privacy-oriented coins such as Bitcoin. A very interesting analogy to help visualised the differences between Zcash and Bitcoin is by using the analogy of HTTP and HTTPS. In this case, HTTPS (a secure version of HTTP) resemblances Zcash and vice versa. To vastly simplify how Zcash provides an impressive level of security and privacy, we need to familiarize ourselves with zero-knowledge proof. By using zero-knowledge proof, transactions can be conducted and verified without needing the private information regarding the sender, receiver as well as the total amount of coins transacted. To phrase it in another way, by using Zcash, the record of exchanges are traceable but other subtle element such as the private information mentioned above stayed confidential and non-accessible by public. However, it is still possible for the users to disclose some of his/her transactions data at his/her will utilising features provided by Zcash known as “viewing keys” and “ payment disclosure”.
To get a deeper and more comprehensive understanding on Zcash to aid your investment decision, here is a pdf of the Whitepaper of Zcash(ZEC) for reading purpose.
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