ZCash was created in October 2016 by a developer called Zooko Wilcox. Wilcox really liked what Bitcoin could do, but he didn’t like the fact that transactions were available for everybody to see. Instead, he wanted to create a blockchain that would allow people to send and receive funds anonymously — which is exactly what ZCash can do!
To make his dream a reality, Wilcox performed a fork of the original Bitcoin code. Wilcox made some really impressive changes to the Bitcoin code to make sure that not only was it more private than Bitcoin, but also faster!
Note: When a blockchain is forked, it means that the original code is copied, but then changes are made to make it better. Famous blockchain forks include Bitcoin Cash (forked from Bitcoin) and Ethereum Classic (forked from Ethereum).
One of ZCash’s biggest fans is the famous whistleblower, Edward Snowden, who recently said it is the most interesting alternative to Bitcoin! The project also received a private investment from the cryptocurrency legend Roger Ver and ex-banker Barry Silbert.
The ZCash blockchain has its own cryptocurrency, which is also called ZCash, or “ZEC”. In total, there will be a maximum of 21 million ZEC coins, which is the same amount as Bitcoin. It is predicted to reach this amount in the year 2032.
However, the ZCash blockchain can process transactions much quicker than Bitcoin and it is also more scalable. Scalability is important as it means that a blockchain can process lots of transactions at once. I’ll talk about this in more detail later on…
The main feature that ZCash has is that it hides the identity of both the sender and receiver. In fact, it is so private that the only information you can see is the transaction date and time!
Just like Bitcoin, no single person or authority controls ZCash — it is decentralized! Instead, the blockchain is maintained by miners, who earn ZCash coins in return for their time and electric power.
