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Cryptographic technology advanced in 2018, bringing the crypto community closer to "privacy for all", according to a recent presentation by Zcash founder Zooko Wilcox.
Whereas the cryptographers of Zcash "He was a pioneer in the use of zero knowledge tests" with Zcash representing the first application for technology two years ago, it is right that ZEC has become synonymous with privacy.
But now that Zcash has obtained a quote on Coinbase in the United States traded with KYC, you might wonder if your transactions are truly anonymous, unlike the Bitcoin protocol from which ZEC started. The idea that there was a compromise is not too far-fetched.
Dovey Wan, who is a founding member of the Primitive Ventures encrypted investment fund, he said in a tweet he asked the founder of Zcash numerous times "Why not stay anonymous from the beginning?" is "Why look [an] huge amount of compliance for a private currency? " The answer became clear when Coinbase decided to list ZEC, which will help the currency reach mainstream status.
And perhaps the cryptic community has always had a myopic view of privacy. Like Wilcox tweeted:
Privacy does not concern isolation: it concerns the community. But with the consent. You can choose who is watching you when you lower your hair. You can choose who is there around the table when you tell your story. Privacy concerns consent.
Privacy and Crypto go together like chocolate and peanut butter
Zcash gets its privacy from the zk-SNARK technology.
To appreciate how important privacy is not only for the Zcash community but for cryptography in general, it is useful to go back in 2013, when privacy was one of the main reasons for Bitcoin developers. Privacy was the distinguishing feature of projects like Zerocoin, but the technology was too cumbersome to make its way into a vital Bitcoin update.
Meanwhile, at the 2013 San Jose Bitcoin conference, scientists behind SNARK technology met the scientists behind Zerocoin, leading to a collaboration that Zooko compared to when "Chocolate goes well with your peanut butter". The new coupling "Solved the problem of transaction times" Zooko explained in a recent podcast.
Pulling a rabbit out of your hat
zk-SNARKs is part of the knitting of the Zcash project, but Wilcox once also revealed that he was not involved in the zero-test cycle and instead of leaving this to his team of cryptographers. Since then, Zcash has updated its mainnet to version 2.0, cutting transaction times for zero knowledge tests from 37 seconds to 2.3 seconds. Wilcox, the student, became the teacher.
zk-SNARK is synonymous with "Subject of non-interactive knowledge succinct with zero knowledge" according to the Zcash website. It is a test system that adds an extra layer of privacy to the process generally surrounding a BTC or ETH transaction, a level of confidentiality that Wilcox suggests that Satoshi could have included if SNARKs had been invented in 2008.
Although complex, the formula has a bit of magic that looks like a rabbit pulled out of a hat. The magician shows that there is not a door at the back of the hat and then he pulls a rabbit out of nowhere. You know that there is a wizard and a hat; even if you do not know exactly where the rabbit is coming from, you can see with your eyes that it's real.
In a non-zero-knowledge transaction, the BTC or ETH miner has access to the transaction history of the sender to prove that the funds are not spent in duplicate. But with a zero knowledge test, the transaction is encrypted.
A user presents the transaction in which he is trying to transfer an amount, but does not say how much. Consider the amount hidden inside a private envelope. The envelope is transferred to the miner but does not say anything about the sender or recipient. The content is hidden, but it is accompanied by what Wilcox calls "magic fingerprint", which is the zero knowledge test.
The miner then tests the magic stamp, which convinces them that the zero knowledge test is valid. If not, the sender would not have been able to produce this magic stamp. And in the end, the miner learns the meaning of "zero" behind the zero knowledge test when they learn only the necessary information and nothing more to prove that the amount transferred is indeed valid.
Zcash and Monero
Not surprisingly, Zcash and Monero, both advertised as private currencies, have some key features in common. For example, ZEC and XMR are both open source. Both coins are forks of other cryptocurrencies – Bitcoin and Bytecoin for ZEC and XMR, respectively. Both coins use work-proven algorithms powered by mineral resources for network validation: Equihash for Zcash and CryptoNight for Monero. And while the Zcash motto is "All the coins are created equal" perhaps it is less so for private coins.
The thing to remember about Monero is his popularity on the obscure web, where heinous activities ranging from drugs to encryption. As a developer of Monero, Riccardo Spagni, said in response to the increase of illegal activities on the obscure web:
Interesting is the fact that it manages to bring up people who really need to be private. If it's good enough for a drug dealer, it's good enough for everyone else.
Zooko to the moon
Incidentally, the CEO of Wilcox and Coinbase Brian Armstrong shares a story. Once the founder of Zcash had offered a position as head of security for Coinbase, who refused because he had already run too far.
It seems that it was destined for technological greatness, with call from the Zcash community for Wilcox to launch cubes, the small satellites used by Elon Musk's SpaceX venture.
Or that, or they must believe they have their heads in the clouds … because his hat was full of rabbits.
The author is currently invested in ETH.
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