Most of the crypto investors have some idea about Zcoin but they don’t know what the coin is all about and how to differentiate it from Zcash. Therefore, today I have compiled a list of misconceptions about Zcoin and to clarify them once and for all.
1. Zerocoin and Zcoin are the same
You have seen some articles use both the words interchangeably. Although they are almost the same, but heck there are some differences. Zerocoin is a protocol that dictates how a privacy coin should work and the Zcoin cryptocurrency is the practical implementation of the Zerocoin protocol. Besides, they do not use the same logo. Since the Zerocoin protocol is open source, there are many other cryptocurrencies that are implementing Zerocoin, including PIVX, Smartcash, Hexxcoin, and Zoin. Zerocoin protocol is written by John Hopkins University professor Matthew D. Green while Zcoin cryptocurrency is chiefly developed by Poramin Insom. Therefore, never mix up the two again!
2. Zcoin is a fork of Zcash
This is outright wrong. The Zerocash protocol was announced by Matthew D. Green in November 2013, six months after the Zerocoin protocol was presented. Zerocash was dubbed as the improvement of Zerocoin protocol where the former can further hide the amount of coins in each transaction. Zcoin cryptocurrency was launched in September 2016, while Zcash cryptocurrency was launched in October by another team led by Zooko Wilcox-O'Hearn.. Both these coins are totally independent of each other. So never say Zcoin is a fork of Zcash again!
3. Zcoin is an ICO
If you have some idea about the origin of Zcoin, you can never say that Zcoin is an ICO. Zcoin never tokenise its coins and you can never store Zcoin on any ethereum wallet. Zcoin does not cost any gas to send. It is just another cryptocurrency that provides privacy to users.
4. Zcoin requires trusted set-up which could undermine its reliability
Although Zcoin currently is still using a trusted set-up on its coins, they are currently in the process of implementing the Sigma protocol in order to remove the trusted set-up. Zcoin already has 3,500 masternodes running. Once Merkle Tree Proof (MTP) is implemented, Sigma Protocol will be installed to remove the need of the trusted setup in the Zerocoin protocol. Besides, the Zcoin trusted setup is based on the RSA challenge of the 1990s which remains secure to this day and it is very unlikely that the developers of the coin will be able to manipulate the trusted setup easily.
5. Zcash is superior than Zcoin
Yes, Zcash is superior to Zcoin in hiding the amount of coins in each transaction. However, this feature exposes Zcash to possibility of unchecked hyperinflation as there is no knowledge on how much coin is present in each transaction. In comparison, Zcoin has an auditable supply to keep the total amount of coins in check. In my opinion, hiding the amount of coins sent in each transaction does not add any value to the privacy of a coin. This is because when the sender and the receiver are hidden from the public, there is no way to trace the origin of the coin!
Conclusion
Here are the five most common misconceptions about Zcoin and I hope that it can help you in making an informed investment decision!