Zcash (ZEC/USD) - a self-proclaimed anonymous cryptocurrency that is preparing for an upgrade to its system, has just avoided a big scandal among its ranks. Upcoming 'Overwinter' upgrade which is due to arrive on June 25, will prepare an $8 billion network to for the next hardfork “Sapling”.
Zcash is considered as a secure transport layer in comparison to Bitcoin. It is designed to hide sender, recipient, and value of the transactions. Zcash has transparent addresses (t-addresses) similar to bitcoin while providing an option to hide the details of users transactions using private addresses (z-addresses). Private transactions are conducted using the shielded pool which allows users to spend coins without revealing the amount, sender or the receiver. This is possible due to the use of zero-knowledge proofs. But, with so much anonymity comes the attention of illegal money laundering schemes and activities.
While the upgrade was due to release in a couple of days, D. Jane MercerWeiss one of the developers, and the only Zcash Windows wallet software maintainer voiced his unhappiness with core developers, saying he was well underpaid. In his blog, he openly lashed out at Zcash. He claimed he has been living off the donations form the community but now the money has run out. He then threatened to “nope out” and release a Zcash alternative.
After this community seemingly rallied together to help out D.Jane. According to him, 80 ZEC (approximately $15,000) have appeared on his account overnight, with a single “large anonymous zaddr donation” making up the majority of the sum.
The developer commented on this further on his Twitter account by saying “consider things going back to normal. I am not gonna do a chainfork”
Sorry for the altcoin drama, once again the community at large has stepped up and kept the cross platform Zcash GUI train rolling down the tracks
— D. Jane MercerWeiss (@radix42) June 20, 2018
cc: @zooko @acityinohio @least_nathan @mineZcash @feministPLT @ioptio @zcashco @ZcashFoundation @socrates1024 @matthew_d_green https://t.co/OYYV2bf75j
The Zcash upgrade is now set to go ahead as planned, and one of the largest crypto exchanges Huobi revealed that it will freeze all transactions of the token during the upgrade period for one hour. Earlier Zcash developers in their public announcement have asked to suspend all withdrawals in order to avoid any failures. The freeze will take place at 9:00 pm on June 25, 2018 (GMT+8)
Zcash #deposit and #withdrawal will be temporarily suspended on 9:00pm June 25, 2018. A #hardfork will occur on #ZEC at block height 347,500.
— Huobi Pro (@Huobi_Pro) June 20, 2018
Full Article: https://t.co/9YsWQ4JLW8
ZEC official announcement: https://t.co/tNYvbDHRyH#HuobiPro #Hadax @zcashco #Zcash
By Nadya Astam