ZCoin (XZC) makes effective use of the Zerocoin Protocol, it is an open source decentralized cryptocurrency that aims on allowing complete privacy and anonymity for its users while completing transactions. The protocol was originally supposed to be an extension of the Bitcoin Network, which allows you to send coins with no transaction history but instead now is used with ZCoin and Zerocoin Protocol.
Hosting a Zcoin Masternode (Znode) requires staking of a minimum collateral amount of 1000 XZC. Zcoin Masternode network enables unique functions and adds another layer of privacy and anonymity to its blockchain. Znode owners earn 30% of the block reward (presently 15 XZC every block) for hosting a reliable and powerful network that helps support the network. The staking of collateral amount ensures that the Znode owners continue to work honestly and have a high uptime.
Usually when you transact using a coin, the transaction history is always linked to that specific coin by default. This affects the privacy and anonymity of the user as it becomes easy to track the source of a specific transaction. By using Zcoin’s Zerocoin-based Minting and Spending feature, no transaction history is linked to the coins and only the sender and the receiver know about the transaction. The reason being that in minting, your old coins are burned and destroyed cryptographically for a small fee and replaced by fresh ones, thus destroying the transaction history as well. Therefore, by minting you can create a private transaction and spend your coins without being worried about any history being attached to them. This ensures the utmost anonymity and privacy of the sender as well as the receiver.
MTP was created as a way to remedy the disparity between ordinary users and adversaries/cheaters where the latter could use botnets, GPU, FPGA and ASICS to gain a significant advantage and mount a cheaper attack. The basic concept is that it should establish the same price/cost for a single computation unit on all platforms. This means that no single device should gain a significant advantage over another for the same price hence promoting egalitarian computing. With egalitarian computing, attackers would need to spend the same amount as ordinary users for equivalent ‘hashing’ power. As attackers need to use similar hardware as ordinary users, automated large-scale attacks become no longer possible. This combined with the fact hashing in MTP is highly memory intensive, users infected by trojans to participate in botnets would experience noticeable performance degradation and therefore more likely to suspect something is amiss.
Zcoin has implemented Zerocoin Protocol to its network which is also termed as the ‘Privacy Enhancing Technology’. Zerocoin is a privacy protocol which was proposed by professor Matthew D. Green and his students in 2013 as an extension to Bitcoin Protocol to add cryptographic anonymity to its transactions. This protocol utilizes the Zero-Knowledge Cryptographic Proofs which sets the magnitude of the anonymity to a whole new level. The anonymity set is not just limited to dozens or hundreds of coins but encompasses all minted coins in a specified RSA accumulator that can scale to many thousands.
Coin improves the privacy of Bitcoins Protocol by Minting, Spending, and Repeat. ZCoin uses ZeroCoin Protocol technology that allows users to “mint” a coin found on public ledger into a private coin with ease. When a user needs to spend their “Minted ZCoin” you don’t need to reveal your identity to complete the transaction however, you can only mint in denominations of 1, 10, 25, 50 and 100. The process of being able to “Mint” and “Spend” a coin can be completed continuously allowing complete privacy which means you can send ZCoin as a form of payment to anyone with not transaction history. Zcoin is the first full execution of the Zerocoin Protocol, which authorizes users to have absolute privacy.
The ZCoin provides anonymity in direct payments between different parties. All of the users can convert Bitcoins into ZCoins and then send these ZCoins to other users. The ZCoins a user owns can be split or merged in any way that conserves the total value. The option of converting ZCoins back into Bitcoins is also there. Moreover, the secure cryptographic techniques used by the Zerocash protocol make sure that the Bitcoins are impossible to trace.
Luckily for us, XZC is supported both on the Ledger Nano S and Trezor hardware wallets.
Ledger
As for using the Nano Ledger S, the first step towards setting up your device is unboxing it and checking if you have received all the accessories with the device. Once you have it unboxed, you need to configure it and initialize it before being able to use it. The process is quite simple and will hardly take about 20-30 minutes post which you will be set to use your Ledger Nano S device.
Setup guide video: here
Trezor
As for Trezor, installing is really simple. To properly install it users should attach the unit to the computer. After that continue with installing the bridge which allows the Trezor to join with the computer. The first step is to connect the Trezor to device’s USB slot with the cable given in the box. After that, go to myTrezor.com and proceed with installing the browser extension. Trezor can also be used on Android or an iPhone, or on a Windows or Mac computer. Now, initiate the extension and myTrezor will direct you to pick a PIN. After this, you will notice nine buttons but the numbers are hidden. After this, users should check the Trezor’s screen to recognize which numbers are in which place because it switches every time. Now set the PIN. Shortly after, Trezor should present a 24-word wallet “seed”. In short, one word at a time. Note down this seed and save it carefully. If your Trezor device malfunctions or is lost, you can utilize the seed to reconstruct the complete wallet.
Setup guide video: here
Coinswitch
The options for buying XZC with a credit/debit card are fairly limited. So far, the only service that we can trust which offers credit card purchases is Coinswitch, which compares rates from reputable brokers and gives you the best bang for your buck.
Alternative
Generally speaking, the safest route we’d recommend is that you buy ETH or BTC through coinbase or coinamama and exchange it for OMG on any of the reputable exchanges, like Bittrex or Binance.
Zcoin GUI Wallet
This is the official desktop wallet for Zcoin, which is available for Windows, Mac, and Linux operating systems. You can use this wallet with convenience and can manage the assets with the help of the private keys. Zcoin GUI wallet is one of the most recommended wallets for Zcoin, as it is the official wallet. You can manage the security of the assets with the help of a PIN.
Electroneum
The Electrum light wallet is one of the best Zcoin wallets online in 2019. You can send, store and receive your digital assets in Electrum wallet with the help of a PIN and can recover it with the help of a passphrase. The Electrum wallet for Zcoin is recommended for both beginners and experts, too. It is one of the most secure Zcoin wallets, which helps store your Zcoin holdings securely.
