Zcash is a Bitcoin-based cryptocurrency that aims to use cryptography to enhance the privacy it provides to its users. The native cryptocurrency of Zcash is known as ZEC. Zcash is built on Bitcoin’s decentralized blockchain and includes an open-source code. \ Zcash employs zero-knowledge proofs(zkSNARKs) to ensure privacy and protection for its users. The zero-knowledge proofs allow for the validation of transactions without having the user disclose information that could affect their privacy. ## **History** Zcash was developed by Mattew Green, a professor at John Hopkins, in 2013 in conjunction with some of the graduate students he was teaching Ian Miers and Christina Garman. It was originally known as Zerocoin. The development went on to be completed by the Zerocoin Electric Coin Company, a for-profit company led by Zooko Wilcox. The company raised $3 million in May 2022 for the completion of Zcash. \ Zcash was mined in October 2016 for the first time. The demand was so high that the coins were selling for $5000 a piece within a week of the first mine. On 21 February 2019, the Zerocoin Electric Coin Company rebranded to the Electric Coin Company(ECC) ## **Biggest Claims To Fame** Zcash allows for the option of selective disclosure for private users. This allows investors with an interest in this crypto to prove payments for the purpose of auditing. This puts Zcash above cryptocurrencies with a focus on privacy and the reputation they have of only being attractive to those involved with criminal activity. \ They have attempted to work with law enforcement and tax agencies all around the world. They have worked to explain how cryptocurrency works and how they discourage illegal activity and illegal financial transactions. They have actively worked to prove that cryptocurrency can remain decentralized without alienating governmental organizations. They have made a choice to prove integration between cryptocurrency and government is possible. \ Users can choose which details on their transactions they want to be made public. They may choose to keep some of their transaction history public or the amount of money they have transferred public without issue. This provides a layer of privacy in the transactions people make while still having it be based on the blockchain. ## **Biggest Criticism** The technology Zcash uses to ensure the privacy of its owner’s data is not proprietary. Any platform can implement it. Should a bigger cryptocurrency platform choose to implement it, the value of Zcash will fall. The key feature behind Zcash that makes the platform unique is its privacy technology, otherwise, it falls in line with the rest of the up-and-coming crypto. The fact that the protocol can be implemented by stronger crypto can cripple Zcash. \ Their willingness to work with authorities is an issue for some. They claim not to trust Zcash because their willingness to work with authorities may lead to them acting like a traditional banking institution does; meaning they may eventually avail any and all financial documents on any of their clients at the authorities will. This does not sit well with hardcore believers of the decentralization of cryptocurrency. \ The initial setup of Zcash required a Trusted Setup Ceremony. The ideal decentralized cryptocurrency is trustless to reduce the risk of human greed or error getting in the way of finances. In most cases, cryptocurrency has some elements of human involvement in the beginning. The issue when it comes to Zcash is that the entirety of its initial setup relied on people. For a system that takes pride in privacy, this is not something people are comfortable with as those who worked on the initial setup may in theory have the power to crash the entire system. \ The project is run by the Electric Coin Company which is a centralized company. One of the initial goals of cryptocurrency was to separate centralized companies from people’s finances. Zcash being associated with a centralized currency is against the original values of cryptocurrency. ## **Team** Mattew Green is among the developers of Zcash. He is an American cryptographer and is an associate professor at John Hopkins Information Security institute where he teaches Computer Science. \ Zooko Wilcox-O'Hearn is a computer security specialist. He was a developer on the Zcash platform. He is the CEO of the for-profit company Electric Coin Company that leads the development of the Zcash platform. ## **In Conclusion** The Zcash platform can and has leveraged its technology to make it the best and most efficient it can be. Other privacy-based cryptocurrencies have not worked on making themselves seem legitimate and encouraging legitimate business users in need of a private transaction to join in. Zcash has become attractive for that market and has the space and the ability to go further.