Zcash Hard Fork Scheduled Before Halloween

Zcash is an open, permissionless cryptocurrency designed to protect privacy. It is the creation of Zooko Wilcox-O’Hearn, who is also known for “Zooko’s triangle” and the Majo Nation P2P system.

The news is that the founders have just released their version 2.0.0. They are encouraging all users and miners to upgrade to the new version as quickly as possible.

The great thing about 2.0.0? It is “Sapling compatible.” Sapling is the term used in the Zcash orbit to refer to an upcoming hard fork, expected on October 28, that will amount to a major protocol upgrade, allowing shielded/private addresses to be supported by mobile and hardware wallets, exchanges, and payment processors.  

October 28th will also be the second anniversary of the official launch of Zcash.


Are Privacy Coins ‘One of the Greatest Emerging Threats to U.S. National Security?'

What will the future hold for the crypto worlds privacy coins with Congress looking at possibly regulating them. Is it even possible?

The U.S. Secret Service is taking a good look at privacy-focused cryptocurrencies like Monero and Zcash while urging Congress to “consider additional legislative or regulatory actions.”

Fear of Privacy Coins

Last week, a top official from the federal law enforcement agency reportedly requested help from Congress in combating the use of privacy coins for illicit purposes. Robert Novy, Deputy Assistant Director of the Secret Service’s Office of Investigations, wrote:

We should … consider additional legislative or regulatory actions to address potential challenges related to anonymity-enhanced cryptocurrencies.

He added, as reported by Forbes:

[C]ontinued Congressional attention is warranted to ensure law enforcement agencies maintain lawful access to critical sources of evidence, regardless of where, or in what form, that information is stored.

Greg Nevano, an official in the investigations division of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement, backed up Novy’s opinion, stating:

Some newer cryptocurrencies have features that make the tracing of them quite complicated. These new anonymity-enhanced cryptocurrencies are clearly ripe for illicit use in an effort to subvert...