Bitcoin Forum

Zcash's Coming Hard Fork Could Pave the Way for Even More

Privacy-focused cryptocurrency zcash is gearing up for its first hard fork.

And while that may call to mind bitter debates over development or excitement about free coins, actually zcash's first hard fork - dubbed "Overwinter" - isn't about either. Instead, the cryptocurrency's developer team is hoping to lay the groundwork for more dramatic upgrades in the future.

While there are some features being added to zcash in the update, Zooko Wilcox, co-founder and CEO of Zerocoin Electric Coin Company, which develops the network, told CoinDesk, "The purpose of this is to get practice doing network upgrades."

As such, the developer team has been carefully informing the zcash community about the process so "they know how to do this regularly from now on," he continued.

Most of Zcash's developer energy is focused on perfecting Overwinter, which is slated for June, while also looking ahead to zcash's next hard fork upgrade, called Sapling. This subsequent hard fork will usher in a big change, speeding up transactions on the network while maintaining the same level of privacy the cryptocurrency already provides.

Speaking to the names of the upgrades (zcash's software stage is currently called "Sprout"), Wilcox said he foresees a smooth transition.

Read the full story here: https://www.coindesk.com/zcashs-coming-hard-fork-pave-way-even/

So what exactly is the big change that this hard fork is going to implement that will speed up transactions?

There are so many privacy coins out there, why is Zcash better?

Transaction speed is a significant reason, but it seems to me that the main problem for all altcoins is protection against asics. Why now to do fork if this question is not yet resolved? In order for the coin to be decentralized, mining should be decentralized as much as possible. This can only be achieved with the help of the GPU. I think that all coins that allow mining asics at the initial stage of development will be doomed. Maybe this year we can expect a lot of different forks.

I am sure many Zcash holders will be happy with the line up of hard forks happening soon. I understand that Zcash is holding a captured market for people who are enamored with privacy coins. I am just wondering: Can't they do upgrades without doing the hard fork? Forgive my being neophytes on this question...

Sooner than later most of zcash users and miners do expect this would happen. It will boost the price and if there is any improvement to its system the better. But most of the time move like hard fork are for money purposes and requires one more coin for others gain. I have zcash in position to wait for this fork, this is the first I’ve heard about it’s forking and I’m looking forward to it.

Privacy-focused cryptocurrency zcash is gearing up for its first hard fork. And while that may call to mind bitter debates over development or excitement about free coins, actually zcash's first hard fork - dubbed "Overwinter" - isn't about either. Instead, the cryptocurrency's developer team is hoping to lay the groundwork for more dramatic upgrades in the future.