Zcash/ZEC

Z-Cash is an interesting cryptocurrency which is growing rapidly and which offers secure payment transactions in a decentralized environment. It is rapidly growing in use since it offers various advantages when compared to other more established crypto currencies such as Bitcoin and Ethereum. Some have also compared Zcash with the security prevalent on the internet.

A decentralized and open-source cryptocurrency that provides strong privacy protections Shielded transactions hide the sender, recipient, and value on the blockchain If Bitcoin is like http for money, Zcash is https-a secure transport layer.

In order to remain equally interchangeable, units of cryptocurrency must be unlinked from their history so that one unit is as good as any other unit. Zcash brings fungibility to cryptocurrency by unlinking shielded coins from their history on the blockchain.

Zcash is pioneering the use of zero-knowledge proofs, applying cutting-edge cryptography to blockchain technology. Zero-knowledge proofs allow fully encrypted transactions to be confirmed as valid. This new property will enable entire new classes of blockchain applications to be built. In the pre-digital currency world, both individuals and enterprises could justifiably assume that their financial transactions would be kept confidential. With Zcash, users can enjoy the advantages of using a public blockchain, while still being sure that their private information is protected. Z-cash was one of those crypto currencies which saw an incredible bull run in December where its price rose considerably and for a short time its market capitalisation was well over the $1.5 billion mark.

This time last week, Zcash (ZEC) was trading for around $295 a piece and a market capitalization of $830 million. In December, the same coins were going for $542 and the market capitalization was sitting at more than $1.5 billion. That's an 83% run in a matter of days. Sure, in the crypto space we're getting used to seeing these runs but, at some point, things are going to settle down and only those coins (and companies) that can fundamentally support the change in value they have respectively enjoyed are going to be able to maintain their increased valuation. This one has been about for a while now so there's a good chance that readers will have at least heard of Zcash or its predecessor Zerocoin. For those that haven't, however, it's essentially bitcoin with a privacy layer added on top.

Zcash is a cryptocurrency that's actually been set up to combat the issue of traceability. It's got a built in shielding function that adds a layer of anonymity (true anonymity) to any transactions. You can take a look at the Zcash blockchain and see that a transaction has taken place but you can't see which wallets were on either side of the transaction, nor is it possible to see how much Zcash was sent from one wallet to another. This seems a bit shady, right off the bat, but it's not. If big business is ever going to be conducted in cryptocurrency, anonymity (and especially as relates to transaction sizing) is going to be crucial.

This is one of the most open projects (from a development perspective) in the space and this openness has led to the coin and the company attracting a faithful and sizeable following. In turn, this sizeable following has led to some outside interest.