Mining Pools For zcash

Mining Equipment For zcash

About zcash

Zcash Coin Review: Mining Guide, Price & Analysis of Zcash Cryptocurrency

In recent years, cryptocurrency has surged in popularity all over the world. One of the major reasons for this success is the transparency it involves. Zcash is a digital currency that uses cryptography to provide enhanced privacy. The team behind this cryptocurrency believe this makes the coin safer and more efficient.

There is a company behind Zcash known as Zero Coin Electronic Company. However, the Zcash project remains public. Privacy is at the heart of the team's pitch. They believe that it is the only way of ensuring freedom in digital transactions.

With Zcash, you control what information you want to share. To achieve this, the entity involves fully shielded transactions. Here, the sender, recipient and amount are fully encrypted and private. Even so, this does not mean that Zcash does not support transparent transactions. In transparent transactions, the sender, receiver and amount are visible on a public blockchain.

History of Zcash

Zooko Wilcox is the founder of the Zcash project. He saw what cryptocurrencies could do and liked it. However, he did not like the fact that transactions were transparent. The coin was thus built on the original Bitcoin code base. This means that it shares the same network security features.

A few changes to the code resulted in a more private digital currency. Further, the team behind the project insist that it is faster and involves low fees.

Zcash continues to see regular updates. This is to ensure it meets the use cases of today and the unforeseen use cases of the future. Additionally, the platform is decentralized. This means that a wide network of people and machines maintain it.

The Zcash project is also funded by the community. 20% of the mining reward is divided between the Major Grants Fund, the Electric Coin Company and the Zcash Foundations.

Individuals can obtain Zcash coins from various cryptocurrency exchanges like Bitfinex. Additionally, you can buy Zcash coins from another person. Further, you can acquire Zcash by mining. The transaction fees are cheaper than sending funds to a bank.

The Team behind Zcash

Zooko Wilcox, the founder, also serves as the CEO of Zcash and the Zero Coin Electronic Company. The company mentions that its team comprises scientists from various academic and scientific institutions. These institutions include MIT and Johns Hopkins. This helps in giving the coin a good reputation in the public eye. Furthermore, Zooko Wilcox has a solid background in decentralization and cryptography. This team collaborated to create Zerocash. This is the protocol that acts as the foundation of all Zcash operations.

Zcash also boasts a strong advisory board. This includes Roger Ver, Erik Voorhees and Barry Silbert. All these three individuals are renowned investors in the cryptocurrency space. Further, their vast knowledge is respected in the field.

With this in mind, it is safe to say that Zcash is in safe hands. This is one of the reasons why the entity received a vote of confidence from the famous CIA whistleblower, Edward Snowden.

Notable Partnerships

Zcash operates alongside some notable partners including JP Morgan, Grayscale Investment, and Ethereum. The JP Morgan partnership is very important. They are trying to develop and incorporate the zk-SNARKS layer into their blockchain project.

This shows confidence from a big brand. Additionally, Grayscale shows confidence by investing in Zcash. They also list the coin as one of its recommended crypto-investments.

Can Zcash Be Mined?

Like many blockchains, the Zcash network uses the Proof of Work cryptographic method. Each transaction heads to the Zcash blockchain where miners can put it into their block. Mining involves solving mathematical calculations for the blockchain network. Once a transaction is confirmed, it is stored and the network is updated. Miners receive a Zcash reward for performing this work.

Just over two years ago, you could perform the mining process using GPUs only. However, now you can use application-specific integrated circuit computers for better results. With this in mind, there are two approaches you can take. These include Solo mining and pool mining.

Pool mining is the most efficient way to mine for cryptocurrency. This means combining with other miners to increase the mining power. This increases the chances of getting a reward for mining a block. The miners then split the reward among themselves.

Solo mining is slowly becoming obsolete. This is because the network hash rate is very high forcing miners to require better mining hardware and software. It only makes sense to share the expenses and rewards for profitability.

Miners receive a 50 Zcash coin reward for every successful block of mining. It is also important to note that Zcash mining hardware is much cheaper compared to Bitcoin.

Cryptography and Algorithm Used

Zcash uses the zero-knowledge proof algorithm to implement private transactions. This algorithm allows you to confirm whether a statement is true without revealing the statement itself. Zcash uses a variation of this algorithm known as zk-SNARKS.

zk-SNARKS stands for Zero-Knowledge Succinct Non-Interactive Argument of Knowledge. It allows one party to prove to another a secret key without revealing any information beyond the secret key. Therefore, a transaction can be publicly recorded without revealing its information.

In the mining process, Zcash uses the Equihash algorithm. This is a Proof-of-Work algorithm devised by Alex Birukov and Dmitry Khovratovich. The developers chose this algorithm because it has very efficient verification. Moreover, Equihash is a memory-oriented Proof-of-Work algorithm. This means that how much mining you can do depends on how much RAM you have.

Security of Zcash

The team behind the coin assure individuals that the network is completely safe from attacks. They mention that the chances for a 51% attack are near zero. This is because the aftermath of such an attack would leave the attackers' hardware worthless. Therefore, it is much easier for one to mine the currency than perform an attack. Additionally, they claim that Zcash has no backdoor. This means that the network is completely secure.

However, a notable name has shown scepticism in Zcash’s cryptography. Bitcoin core developer Peter Todd has written about concerns with Zcash’s cryptography. He notes that zk-SNARKS is highly experimental and relatively weak.

Another concern is the use of the for illicit activities. The privacy of transactions means that criminals can fund their operations anonymously. However, the team has assured that research showed no evidence of any substantive use of Zcash for illicit activities. This is good to hear but it does not mean it will remain so in the future.

Advantages

• Offers private transactions.
• High security.
• Fast transaction speeds.
• Easy to use.
• Irreversible transactions.
• Reputable team and partners.

Disadvantages

• It involves opt-in private transactions.
• Zcash might be used in illegal activities.
• As its code is similar to Bitcoin’s, it may run into similar problems as Bitcoin.
• Other coins such as Dash offer much quicker transaction speeds.

Final Verdict

It is hard to overlook the privacy benefits that Zcash offers. While the coin has a few disadvantages, the merits outweigh them. Moreover, it is a cheaper alternative to Bitcoin. Also, the mining hardware is cheaper to obtain. Therefore, it is not a bad idea to invest in this cryptocurrency. But, use caution when buying from individuals you are not familiar with. In addition, keep an eye on competitors before investing.