V.G Review — Zero Currency

Bitcoin emerged in 2009 as a way to facilitate transactions via the internet. Its creator Satoshi Nakamoto still remains a mystery, being either an individual or a group of people. Since then, as of this writing, Bitcoin is still struggling to be massively adopted in some countries, but it has made great strides.

Some of the reasons that hinder or hinder the mass adoption of bitcoin. Are:

Lack of Privacy Features — Not everyone wants their transactions exposed on the blockchain. Whether an individual, organization or company, privacy is a right to be respected.
“Expensive” transaction fees — Bitcoin fees between late November 2017 and early 2018 became very expensive due to network congestion. But for those who need to transact lower values, fees can currently range from 1 to 80 cents, and may reach approximately 1 dollar. However, this will reflect the transaction confirmation time.

Source: https://www.coindesk.com/state-of-blockchains-bitcoin-btc-fees

Delay in transaction confirmation time — Bitcoin transactions, depending on the fees spent, can take approximately minutes to hours to confirm, especially if the 6 commits are required.

Fortunately, over time, more Bitcoin and Blockchain technology-based cryptocurrencies have emerged that have managed to fill some of these gaps. Meet this article Zero (ZER)!

What is Zero (ZER)?

Zero is a cryptocurrency originally developed by Zeroshi in 2017 under the MIT license. Zeroshi left Zero’s code in the hands of developers and the community in 2017. Zero, being based on ZCash cryptocurrency, offers totally confidential payments while maintaining a decentralized network using a public blockchain. Combining Bitcoin’s security and Zcash’s anonymity and privacy, Zero enters the competition in the cryptocurrency world, making it a great choice for usability.

Resources

Decentralized and global — Zero’s network is decentralized, maintained by nodes around the world. In addition, it has a PoW (Proof of Work) protocol support through an ASIC-resistant algorithm.

Fast and Cheap — When Zero’s network is under full capacity, fees are reduced to 0. While when the network is at high capacity, transaction fees are extremely low reaching 0.0001 ZER.

Anonymous and secure — Zero utilizes Zero-knowledge proof technology, called zero-knowledge succinct non-interactive arguments of knowledge (zk-SNARKs) allowing transaction data to be validated without revealing information about value and the parties involved.

Shielded Transactions — Zero cryptocurrency addresses are divided into private (addresses beginning with z) and transparent addresses (addresses beginning with t). A z-to-z address transaction appears on the public blockchain, but the addresses, transaction value, and memo are all encrypted and not publicly visible. A t-to-t address transaction appears on the public blockchain as well as Bitcoin: the sender, recipient, and transaction value are publicly visible. Many are moving to shielded transactions because they allow more user privacy.

Mining

Zero is a mining cryptocurrency, using its own unique hashing algorithm: Equihash 192/7. There was no ICO, no pre-mining, ie the pioneers had no advantages. And people who are currently mining or buying have no disadvantages.

Zero Nodes

Zero nodes are nothing more than nodes that carry a copy of the blockchain and help strengthen the network. As a reward for helping, 20% of block rewards go to zero nodes.

You can host your own node with your hardware requirements, having access to Telegram and Discord community support if you need assistance.

The minimum hardware requirements are:

Single core CPU
4GB RAM ou 1GB RAM With 4GB Swap File
25 GB Hard Drive

ZCash vs Zero

Zero combines privacy features of Zcash cryptocurrency, as was the algorithm first introduced. One of its main differences is in the transaction confirmation rate. ZCash has a block time of 2.5 minutes (150 seconds). Meanwhile, Zero has a block time of 2 minutes (120 seconds).

Wallet Options

The Zero team offers wallets for major operating systems: Windows, Linux, MacOS, Android, and iOS. Demonstrating concern for usability and currency diffusion.

Coin Specifications

Name: Zero Currency
Ticker Symbol: ZER
Block Rewards: 73% Mining — 20% Zero Node — 7% Dev Fund
Algorithm: Equihash 192/7
Max Supply: 17 millions
MN Collateral: 10,000 ZER

Dev fund Breakdown (Per block)

Development Fund Details 0.81 ZER / Block (~7.5%)

0.324 ZER/Block (40%) Exchange Listing Funding.

0.243 ZER/Block (30%) Marketing Funding.

0.162 ZER/Block (20%) Dedicated to Radical New Capabilities.

0.081 ZER/Block (10%) Dedicated to Maintaining & Updating Blockchain.

Development Fund Total — 0.81 ZER / Block

Total ZER per day = 583.2

Zero Team

Zero’s core team consists of 5 members, all performing their respective duties. The team expands to contributors from the community and can undertake actions involving marketing, development and programming. All are available 24/7 to help community members answer any questions that arise.

Pros

Anonymity and Privacy
Fast Transactions
Active team and community
No ICO and No Premine
Low inflation
Multiplatform Wallet
Shielded Transactions

Cons

Not very eco-friendly — Despite being resistant to ASICs, mining itself is environmentally harmful, in my opinion, due to the high energy expenditure in the act of mining.

Alternatives

Nano — This cryptocurrency is one of my favorites. This features instant and zero fees transactions based on DAG technology, but privacy-wise, not anonymous transactions.

ZCoin — It is a fast, decentralized and anonymous cryptocurrency, initially based on the Zerocoin protocol. It’s also important to note the fact that there was a hacker attack in 2017 on the Zerocoin protocol, the same as that used by ZCoin, allowing hackers to create 370,000 fake tokens and sell on exchanges for 400 bitcoins. Introduced in 2018, the Dandelion protocol that hides the sender’s source IP address without using TOR or VPN.

Conclusion

Rating Score 3.8/5 — (B+)

Zero is a good cryptocurrency for those seeking privacy and anonymity. However, it can also be used for everyday transactions due to its extremely low fees, which can be as low as 0. Its transaction time is relatively short and is confirmed in a moment. The lack of premine shows that developers want more justice among currency users. Regarding mining, I do not like it very much, because as informed, it harms the environment with excessive energy expenditure, not being eco-friendly.