The privacy based coin Zcash will be undergoing their first hard fork on June 26th, less than a day away. The first ever network upgrade for Zcash is called Overwinter and will occur when block 347500 is mined. The upgrade’s purpose is to strengthen the protocol for future network upgrades and will include versioning, replay protection for network upgrades, performance improvements for transparent transactions, a new feature of transaction expiry, and more.
The Overwinter upgrade will make it easier for future network upgrades like Sapling which is to take place later in the year. Sapling will be a protocol upgrade that’ll aim to increase transaction efficiency and scalability for shielded transactions, a move that will further drive mainstream adoption of Zcash.
Users that handle the Zcash coin will need to update the existing software. This includes exchanges, mining pools, and hosted wallets. The Overwinter hard fork will be supported by the following 3rd party exchanges, mining pools, and wallets:
AirTM
Binance
Bitfinex
Cryptonator Wallet
Exodus Wallet
F2Pool
FlyPool
Gemini
Huobi Pro
Lamassu
Lykke
Poloniex
Zcha.inThird-parties who wish to be included in this list should email
info@z.cash with a link to your official statement of intent for Overwinter support.
For instructions on how to upgrade, check out the list of resources available on Zcash’s official website.
Users have been advised to avoid any transactions one hour before the fork is set to take place.
Zcash is a fork of bitcoin which uses a cryptography principle called zero-knowledge proofs which allows users to shield transaction amount and details all while being publicly recorded on the blockchain.
