Buzz

Coinbase Exploring Zcash

Coinbase provides an important, regulated on-ramp to utilizing Zcash’s technology for over 20 million consumers. We applaud the Coinbase decision to explore Zcash inclusion as its first privacy-protecting currency.

DFS Authorizes Gemini Trust Company to Provide Additional Virtual Currency Products and Services

Gemini is the First Qualified Custodian and Exchange to Receive DFS Approval to Offer Trading of Emerging Digital Currency Zcash in New York.

Gemini Is Now the World’s First Licensed Zcash Exchange!

We are excited to announce support for Zcash trading and custody. Starting on Saturday, May 19th at 9:30am EDT customers will be able to start depositing Zcash into their Gemini accounts.

Circle Invest Welcomes ZCash

A little over a month ago, we opened up access and expanded availability of our newest product Circle Invest. We are now available in almost every state in the US, including New York.

Unchained – Zcash’s Zooko Wilcox on Why He Believes Privacy Coins Will Be Used More for Good Than Bad

Zooko Wilcox, the founder and CEO of the Zcash company, explains why he wanted to create the privacy coin Zcash, why he believes privacy is essential to decentralization, and how encryption is the way censorship-resistance can be created on a technical level.

Fortune Magazine – Can This Man Build a Better Bitcoin?

Two years ago, Bryce “Zooko” Wilcox was running a struggling startup and sleeping in his car. Today he’s collaborating with JPMorgan Chase on the privacy tech that could give Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies a run for their money. Here’s how he got from A to Z.

MIT Technology Review – A Mind-Bending Cryptographic Trick Promises to Take Blockchains Mainstream

Cryptographers have researched zero-knowledge proofs for two decades, but the technique is only just now poised to redefine the concept of online privacy.

Fortune – One of the World’s Biggest Bitcoin Exchanges Just Added a New Cryptocurrency

Based in South Korea, Bithumb listed Zcash, a privacy-centric digital money based on a blockchain, a public accounting ledger that tracks virtual currencies, allowing people to buy and sell them without the need of a middle-man like a bank.

CoinDesk – Zcash Audit Finds No Serious Issues in Launch Ceremony Security

If someone were to get their hands on a complete copy of all the shards, it would enable them to surreptitiously create counterfeit coins, an attack that would be difficult to detect given the anonymity of zcash transactions. So, to secure the final product, the full private key was broken up into six pieces, each generated in a different location.

CoinDesk – Better, Faster zk-SNARKs: Zcash Developers Release New Privacy Tech

Zcash engineer Sean Bowe and cryptographers Matthew Green and Ian Miers (all of whom also work for the for-profit Zcash Company) are releasing a living prototype of a new form of zk-SNARK that could lead to huge improvements in speed.

Radiolab – The Ceremony

Last November, journalist Morgen Peck showed up at her friend Molly Webster’s apartment in Brooklyn, told her to take her battery out of her phone, and began to tell her about The Ceremony, a moment last fall when a group of, well, let’s just call them wizards, came together in an undisclosed location to launch a new currency. It’s an undertaking that involves some of the most elaborate security and cryptography ever done (so we’ve been told). And math. Lots of math. It was all going great until, in the middle of it, something started to behave a little…strangely.

Forbes – JPMorgan Chase To Integrate Zcash Technology To Its Enterprise Blockchain Platform

“By adding the Zero-knowledge Security Layer into Quorum, we are able to explore how state of the art cryptographic privacy technology will enhance the next generation of financial services applications,” said JPMorgan executive director and blockchain center of excellence lead architect Suresh Shetty in a statement.

American Banker – Cheat sheet: The trade-offs of blockchain privacy tools

As banks explore the potential of blockchains, they’ve been quick to surmise that the technology, as it was originally designed, does not provide robust privacy. When Satoshi Nakamoto invented bitcoin in 2009, he (or she or they) provided a way for multiple participants, who have no reason to trust each other, to work together in maintaining a canonical, tamperproof history of transactions and digital messages. But the design required that all activity be exposed for anyone to see…

Each Bitcoin user has an address, made up of letters and numbers, and the authorities are often able to link an address to a real person using sophisticated data analysis. In contrast, Zcash uses a method developed by a team of cryptographers working at M.I.T. and in Israel — known as zk-Snark — that allows transactions to be confirmed by the network without anyone recording the Zcash addresses involved in the transactions.

The Economist – Known Unknown: Another crypto-currency is born

Zcash’s code is also open-source, but its inventors have formed a company and accepted money from investors. In addition, 10% of the 21m coins to be issued are earmarked for founders, investors, employees and a putative Zcash foundation. All this, says Mr Wilcox, is to align incentives for all involved, allow the firm to hire a great team and enable quicker decisions…

Privacy is an essential part of cryptocurrency security, and despite some initial mistaken beliefs to the contrary, Bitcoin alone doesn’t provide that. Zcash is the first cryptocurrency that provides the level of privacy users deserve and expect.

Andrew Miller

Advisor at Zcash

Privacy is crucial to modern business. If Apple and Samsung can view each other’s financial transactions, the system is not secure. Zcash provides that secure, neutral ground for commerce.

Jeff Garzik

Bitcoin core dev, Co-Founder at Bloq

Many of us at ConsenSys believe the Ethereum community should be excited about the launch of Zcash and the incredible partnership opportunities that exist to bring both blockchains closer to achieving our goals….

American Banker – How Zcash Tries to Balance Privacy, Transparency in Blockchain

For banks intrigued by blockchains but leery of volatile, decentralized digital currencies, Wilcox’s company, Zcash Electric Coin Co., is developing enterprise software that would add an encryption layer to a private shared ledger. It’s called ZSL, for Zcash Security Layer — Wilcox has likened it to Secure Sockets Layer, the encryption technology developed in the mid-1990s that made communications on the web safe for online banking.

Tech Crunch – weekly column by Jon Evans

Zcash is — like Ethereum was — a fundamental technological advance, not just a new project using the same technology. The prospect of truly anonymous transactions may sound alarming to some, but in a world in which privacy withers further away every day, it can also sound a lot like a reassuring bulwark.

Bloomberg – Bitcoin Isn’t Anonymous Enough

Anonymity achieves [fungibility] by preventing merchants or service providers from seeing any blemishes that might prevent them from honoring a unit of currency. Reducing the opportunity for external judgment is pretty much the goal of privacy protection in general. Ideally, so little information is revealed that everyone — and every valid transaction — is treated equally.

spectrum.ieee.org – ZCash Will Be a Truly Anonymous Blockchain-Based Currency

There are strictly technical considerations that make strong privacy a necessary feature in a digital currency. Ideally, for the system to function, coins should be fungible, which is to say, each coin should be indistinguishable from the next. When a coin carries the history, and potentially the smear, of every past transaction—as bitcoins do—this can be difficult to achieve.

bitcoinmagazine.com – Zcash CEO Zooko Discusses Privacy and Efficiency Tradeoffs vs the Bitcoin Blockchain

It’s clear that the availability of a truly anonymous cash system is desired by the vast majority of the digital currency community. This sort of cryptographically-ensured privacy should become more usable over time. Perhaps the currently-available testnet version of Zcash should be viewed as an early preview of what’s to come in the future of privacy-conscious digital currencies.

The Zcash team is doing much needed work. Protocols like this are the ideal building block for p2p electronic cash.

Adam Back

Ph.D., Inventor of Proof of Work, Founder at Blockstream

Zcash is an important project being worked on by a very talented team.

Nick Szabo

Inventor of Smart Contracts and BitGold; not Satoshi

Epicenter Bitcoin Podcast – Zooko Wilcox: Zcash – An Open Financial System With Privacy

We are doing Bitcoin + privacy. Because nothing else has the empirical evidence of having worked after being under attack for years and years.

Wired.com – Zcash, an Untraceable Bitcoin Alternative, Launches in Alpha

Bitcoin may have become the currency of choice for the anonymity-loving Internet underground. But it’s never been anonymous enough for Zooko Wilcox. As he’ll remind anyone who’ll listen, the blockchain, bitcoin’s very public ledger of all transactions in its crypto-economy, means that…

Bitcoin was built using decades-old cryptography; I’m excited to see what is possible when a great team applies the latest advances to create a better digital cash.

Gavin Andresen

Bitcoin core dev, Digital Currency Developer, MIT Digital Currency Initiative, Advisor at Zcash

There is a strong need for research into better fungibility in digital currency systems, and Zcash is an ambitious project that goes far beyond the incremental improvements worked on elsewhere.

Pieter Wuille

Bitcoin core dev, Founder at Blockstream

coinjournal.net – Longtime Cypherpunk Zooko Warns Bitcoin Community About Overconfidence

Bitcoin is so special and does something that nothing else does, and therefore, we can take our time or not worry too much about some aspects. I think that’s really wrong.

bitcoinmagazine.com – Zcash, a Privacy-Focused Alternative to Bitcoin, Launches Technology Preview

The Zerocash protocol has been considered one of the most promising technologies for putting privacy back into the Bitcoin equation. Now, the Zerocash project has announced that the protocol is being developed into a full-fledged digital currency, Zcash….

Bitcoin is HTTP for money; Zcash is HTTPS.

Steve Waterhouse

Ph.D., General Partner at Pantera Capital (Zcash investor)

The Zcash team has been been working away quietly and diligently on something very, very important: fully private and fungible digital cash.

Ben Davenport

Co-Founder and CTO at BitGo (Zcash investor)

thenextweb.com – Zcash is an untraceable Bitcoin alternative with some heavy hitters backing it

Bitcoin is dead. Or, not. We don’t know what the future holds, but what we do know is the pioneer in the cryptocurrency movement is in some trouble. In periods of trouble, companies either fix their flaws, either real or perceived, and bounce back, or they’re quickly replaced by a better alternative. Zcash is one such alternative…

Technically, it’s a challenge to have fungibility in a shared blockchain, yet money requires fungibility. It’s exciting to see the Zcash team working toward adding real fungibility to blockchains—and with the strength and talent of this team, this is only the tip of the iceberg.

Dan Morehead

Founder and CEO at Pantera Capital (Zcash investor)

Privacy is a very important challenge with current blockchain technology, but existing solutions like private blockchains do not really solve the problem. The technology behind Zcash does.

Bo Shen

General Partner at Fenbushi Capital (Zcash investor)

cryptocoinsnews.com – Zcash Launches in Alpha

In the game of anonymity, cryptocurrency fans have embraced Bitcoin and the blockchain technology which drives it. The technology does record and stamp the transaction, and is placed in the cloud, unlike Zcash, which sees its alpha release….

As much as people now love the idea and the benefits of blockchain technology, time and time again they bring up two issues that blockchains currently do not address: scalability and privacy. I believe that the technology that Zcash is working on is currently the best in class in its ability to address the privacy challenge.

Vitalik Buterin

Founder and Chief Scientist at Ethereum, General Partner at Fenbushi Capital (Zcash investor)

I think the right to privacy is important in all aspects of life, including financial transactions, and Zcash is the ultimate currency for privacy.

Joseph Bonneau

Ph.D., Fellow at EFF, Researcher at Stanford University, Advisor at Zcash

fastcompany.com – New Bitcoin Rival Currency Will Offer More Anonymity, Say Its Creators

The added privacy could make Zcash a more viable choice for financial institutions and consumers than other cryptocurrencies.

Zcash is strongest where Bitcoin is weakest; It gives users the easy ability to maintain their financial privacy. If anything can compete with Bitcoin, it will be on this front.

Roger Ver

Bitcoin advocate and angel investor (Zcash investor)

The fully private Zcash is to digital currencies what Bitcoin was to money—a monumental innovation. Something truly comparable to physical cash has been born online.

Andrew Lee

Chairman at Private Internet Access and London Trust Media (Zcash investor)

cointelegraph.com – Zcash Brings More Privacy Than Bitcoin

Zcash, even though it is still currently in the testing phase, seems like it could become the leader in this part of the crypto-market…

Zcash is pursuing a noble goal – retaining privacy for free citizens in an age of mass surveillance. ShapeShift has invested proactively in only two upcoming digital assets, and Zcash is one of them. We’re honored to support Zooko and the outstanding team behind this project.

Erik Voorhees

CEO of ShapeShift.io

I invested in Zcash because of the impressive team pushing the boundaries of crypto and because Privacy is one of building blocks of Freedom.

Sebastian Serrano

Co-founder and CEO of Ripio.com

Tech Crunch – Zcash, Blockstack, and appcoins, oh my!

Zcash is — like Ethereum was — a fundamental technological advance, not just a new project using the same technology. The prospect of truly anonymous transactions may sound alarming to some, but in a world in which privacy withers further away every day, it can also sound a lot like a reassuring bulwark.

The lack of fungibility of Bitcoin has always been a looming threat to its economics. Zcash finally solves that problem, using one of the most fascinating cryptographic techniques ever developed. Since the protocol was first discussed, it was obvious to me it would be a hit; it was merely a matter of getting the right team to see it through. I believe the Zcash company has done just that.

Arthur Breitman

Inventor of Tezos, Advisor at Zcash

Zcash is revolutionizing the world of finance with technology that guarantees trust without sacrificing privacy.

Steven Nerayoff, Esq., LL.M.

Founder & CEO Maple Ventures

Zcash has the most innovative technology that will revolutionize how the world manages data privacy.

Professor David Lee Kuo Chuen

Founder of Left Coast, LiBai and Dlee Capital Management