Cryptocurrency mining, and especially Bitcoin mining, is a very attractive activity for many crypto enthusiasts. The possibility of obtaining rewards in the form of some coin with a high value in the market is an incentive for which even large companies and governments are after.

The problem is that, in the case of Bitcoin and some other crypto, mining is no longer within the reach of the common user, since this requires quite expensive special hardware that not everyone can afford, or obtain due to supply shortages. However, there is still a whole universe of altcoins whose mining process is possible using ordinary equipment, like the ones you and I have at home.

In its basic form, all you need to mine altcoins is a PC or phone, an internet connection, and special software, so if you’re thinking of getting into cryptocurrency mining, this is a good guide to get started.

So let’s take a look at the 10 Best Crypto You Can Mine with CPU and GPU today.

1. Ethereum

The Ethereum (ETH) network is currently a Proof of Work (PoW) blockchain which, although it’ll soon become a Proof of Stake (PoS) blockchain, still requires miners to work to obtain rewards.

What you need to mine Ethereum

Today, you can no longer mine ETH using only your CPU, so you’ll need to make use of GPUs. With a configuration with consumer graphics cards – preferably AMD or Nvidia – you can get good results when mining from home. You’ll also need to download a mining program like Geth, EthOS, or Claymore.

Ease of mining

ETH mining can be quite heavy if you don’t have enough computing power, as the network is very active and there are many transactions being processed.

Brief guide on Ethereum mining

The first thing you need to do is set up an Ethereum wallet to store the cryptographic keys that will allow you access to your crypto assets.

The next step would be to join a mining pool, which is necessary as mining has become complex and requires large amounts of hashing power. Some of the most popular pools today are Nanopool and Ethermine.

Another interesting option is cloud mining. In this case, a large mining farm rents computing power to interested people in exchange for a monthly fee, so they can mine cryptocurrencies without the need for special hardware.

The main disadvantage of this method is that most of these services tend to be scams, so you’ll have to do your research and be very careful in this case.

Please see my past blog post, 3 Reasons Why You Should Not Cloud Mine.

Is it profitable to mine Ethereum?

Ethereum mining is still profitable, but it also depends on several factors.

A rule that applies to basically all cryptocurrencies is that you must take into account the initial amount of the investment, in addition to the costs of the mining and electricity platform, especially the latter, since this is what will help you the most to determine if it’s profitable and after how long.

Fortunately, there are online calculators that can help you in calculating these costs.

What you can do with your coins

You have two options: sell ETH for an immediate profit or store it in a wallet as a long-term investment. In both cases, insha’Allah, you don’t have to worry, since ETH is the second most popular cryptocurrency after Bitcoin, so it’s widely accepted in many exchanges and online stores.

2. Ethereum Classic

As with Ethereum, Ethereum Classic (ETC) is a platform for the operation of smart contracts and dApps, with the goal of adhering to the principles of decentralization as much as possible.

What you need to mine Ethereum Classic

To mine ETC you need almost the same software and hardware as for ETH. Although in the case of ETC, the requirements are somewhat lower, since Ethereum Classic allows a greater share of the ETC market using GPUs of up to 3 and 4 GB.

Ease of mining

Mining ETC is fairly easy nowadays as the Ethereum Classic network is not as overloaded as Ethereum due to the lower transaction volume.

Brief guide on Ethereum Classic mining

Since with Ethereum Classic the hardware requirements are lower, mining alone is more feasible. Of course, you can always resort to a mining pool. Once you have your wallet, mining software, and graphics card configured, you only have to start mining.

Is it profitable to mine Ethereum?

The difficulty of mining and the hashrate of ETC is still very accessible, and if you live in a region where the cost of electricity consumption is cheap (about $0.10 KWH), mining ETC can be very profitable.

What you can do with your coins

As with Ethereum, you can use your ETC for trading or purchases on a wide variety of exchanges and online stores.

3. Monero

Monero (XMR) has become a favorite of many investors and miners due to its excellent performance in recent years. Between 2017 and 2018 it went from $10 to $494, providing a profit of almost 5,000%, and it’s still very attractive today.

What you need to mine Monero

Fortunately, you don’t need to buy expensive ASIC equipment to mine Monero, as you can use your computer’s CPU/GPU.

Ease of mining

Anyone with a computer can mine Monero, as the mining process is quite simple. However, the more powerful your hardware, the better.

Brief guide on Monero mining

As we already mentioned, you can mine Monero using a GPU with enough power. You will also need to install the XMR Stak mining software, which is currently fairly easy to configure. Finally, you only have to join a mining pool, MineXMR, Nanopool, or Moneropool.

Is it profitable to mine Monero?

Currently, mining Monero is quite profitable, considering that you don’t need too powerful hardware. In addition, the algorithm that Monero uses today is quite efficient and consumes little electricity.

What you can do with your coins

You can trade Monero on a good variety of recognized exchanges, although it is best to use DEX-type exchanges. On top of that, around 200 businesses that operate online accept payments with Monero.

4. Dogecoin

Dogecoin (DOGE) is another cryptocurrency that you can mine using GPUs and CPUs. This coin was launched in 2013 as a joke, and it ended up becoming a very popular crypto – thanks Elon?

What you need to mine Dogecoin

You can mine Dogecoin with a CPU, though preferably not with your phone. Of course, the best option will always be to build a good rig with several GPUs, as long as your pocket allows it. Regarding software, EasyMiner is a good option.

Ease of mining

Although it’s still possible to mine Dogecoin alone, due to the increased difficulty that the network suffered in 2018, the most recommended at this time is to be part of a mining pool.

Brief guide on Dogecoin mining

Mining Dogecoin is as easy as setting up your Doge wallet, joining a mining pool like Prohashing, Antpool, or Poolin, and start mining.

Is it profitable to mine Dogecoin?

2021 saw great growth in the price of Doge, standing in March at 0.056 with a reward of 10,000 for each new block in the network, with which you would be earning $560, not bad.

What you can do with your coins

Currently, and thanks to the popularity that Doge has gained in the crypto world, more and more online businesses and exchanges are accepting this cryptocurrency. You can even use the BitPay card for purchases at Mastercard points.

5. ZCash

ZCash (ZEC) uses the Equihash algorithm to process transactions, secure the network, and of course, generate new coins during the mining process. For miners, this reward consists of 3.125 ZEC per block, which is quite attractive considering the ZEC price in the market.

What you need to mine ZCash

To be able to mine ZCash, you need to use Nvidia or AMD GPUs, as CPU mining is not profitable. Mining alone is not recommended either, so it’s a better idea to join a pool, such as F2Pool or Poolin. Regarding software, EWBF Cuda and Optiminer are good options.

Ease of mining

Due to the increasing difficulty of the network, ZEC mining has become somewhat complicated on its own, although not as much as other cryptos. Mining a ZEC would take you more than 20 days with powerful equipment.

Brief guide on ZCash mining

To start with ZCash mining, you’ll only have to install and configure your GPUs, download a ZCash wallet software, install a ZCash mining program – like EWBF – and join a ZCash mining pool.

Is it profitable to mine ZCash?

Yes, Zcash mining can be profitable if you consider a mining hashrate of 140,000.00 H/s, + electricity costs, and pool fees.

What you can do with your coins

With ZCash you can pay directly at dozens of online businesses, either with your mobile phone or anywhere Visa is accepted.

6. Ravencoin

Ravencoin (RVN) is a cryptocurrency that resulted from an open-source project born from a Bitcoin hardfork, and that has become an excellent option for mining.

What you need to mine Ravencoin

This cryptocurrency has an algorithm resistant to ASIC equipment, so you can mine it with no problems using a rig with several GPUs, either alone or in a mining pool.

Ease of mining

Ravencoin is much easier to mine than other cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin, Ethereum, or Litecoin since its algorithm – KaWPoW – requires less computational power.

Brief guide on Ravencoin mining

To start mining RVN, you just have to build your rig with enough GPUs, download the corresponding mining software – KawPoWminer, TeamRedMiner, or Gminer – and configure your wallet to receive your rewards. You can perform this process alone or in a mining pool.

Is it profitable to mine Ravencoin?

Each miner earns up to 5K RVN for each block added to the chain. With a rig armed with at least three GPUs at 72MH/s, you can mine one RVN every 0.021 days, which is equivalent to one block every three months. If you want to do it faster, you’ll need to add more GPUs.

What you can do with your coins

Ravencoin is still a cryptocurrency with a low level of global acceptance, but this is changing gradually for the better.

7. Grin

Grin (GRIN) is a cryptocurrency born in 2019 focused on maintaining the privacy, efficiency, and scalability of transactions within its blockchain. The project has been gaining a good following since its inception.

What you need to mine Grin

Grin has the peculiarity that it has two PoW algorithms for its operation. One of them allows mining through the use of high-performance GPUs, and the other is specific for ASIC equipment.

Ease of mining

Due to the aforementioned Grin features, added to how recent the project is, the mining of this cryptocurrency still presents an accessible difficulty for a large number of users.

Brief guide on Grin mining

You can participate in Grin mining using a GPU rig with at least 8 cards with enough power. You can do it alone or be part of a mining pool. You just need to configure your rig and download the appropriate software, such as Gminer or Lolminer.

Is it profitable to mine Grin?

Many people using a GPU configuration similar to the one mentioned above, manage to get around $200 a month throughput.

What you can do with your coins

Grin is still a very recent project and therefore it doesn’t yet have a high level of acceptance compared to other currencies, but it’s possible to trade it on some exchanges such as Hotbit, Gate.io, and others.

8. Beam

Like Grin, Beam (BEAM) is a cryptocurrency that uses the Mimblewimble protocol, which allows increasing privacy, scalability, and efficiency on the network. This crypto was created in 2019, and being ASIC resistant, it has become an attractive option for many users.

What you need to mine Beam

As it’s an ASIC resistant coin, you can only mine Beam using graphics cards of at least 4GB. CPU mining is not profitable.

Ease of mining

The mining difficulty in Beam will be increased every 4 years, as well as its reward decreased. But even so, it’ll be accessible through the use of GPUs.

Brief guide on Beam mining

As we have already mentioned, it’s perfectly possible to mine Beam alone, but there are also a good number of mining pools available to participate in if you want to increase your mining potential. Set up your equipment, mining software, and connect your wallet to get started.

Is it profitable to mine Beam?

At the time of writing this blog post, the price of Beam is around $0.50 and if we take into account its attractive features, in addition to its ease of mining, this is a crypto with a lot of potential.

What you can do with your coins

With each passing year, Beam gains more acceptance and presence on a greater number of exchanges, including some like Hotbit, and even Binance.

The bottom line

As you have seen, there are still a good number of crypto alternatives that don’t require a huge investment on the part of users and that can also provide excellent long-term benefits.

Remember that Bitcoin, Ethereum, or Monero were not worth much in their early days, but constant support from their communities made them what they are today.

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Privacy is important to everyone and there are many things that we choose to keep private or that we choose to only share with those close to us. However, whether it’s about personal finances, our health condition, family, or relationship matters, the truth is that nowadays, we end up sharing way too much personal and “private” information on the internet.

That can sometimes have far-reaching consequences. We have a recent example of this in the case of Cambridge Analytica.

But many entities also use our data in an attempt to sell us products and services or steer our decisions based on our selection on race or health status. Also, when you trade cryptocurrencies, your identity, wealth, and freedom may also be in danger.

But cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin are private and anonymous, right?

Not at all. Did you know that Bitcoin is traceable?

However, there are alternatives to give users the power to carry out operations in a truly secure, private, and anonymous way: privacy coins. Today, let’s talk about Monero ZCash and Dash. The 3 Best Privacy Altcoins.

The importance of privacy to protect your personal identity, transactions, sovereignty, and personal wealth

All our digital activities leave their mark, whether when making calls, surfing the web or when making payments with our credit cards. The worst part is that the companies that provide these services store this information and use it in many ways without our prior consent.

Privacy is the power we have to decide who knows what we do in our daily lives, and who does not. Having privacy protects our finances, our health and our peace of mind in ways you may not have imagined:

1.- Personal identity

Privacy is respect for individuality and the freedom to be ourselves, make our own decisions – and have them respected – and be responsible for our actions. The problem is that many times, others may not see our privacy as important when it somehow interferes with other “more relevant” matters. It’s in those moments when different organizations will put aside our privacy say:

“It is for the common good.”

Or:

“It is for our nation.”

Another important aspect of privacy for individual identity is the right to change. As humans, we can make mistakes. After all, Allah says we are from Bani Adam, and Bani Adam (human beings) makes mistakes, so no one is born with a manual tucked under their arm called, “How to be perfect.”

But you have the right to put the past behind you, learn from your mistakes, and give your life a new start, a new direction, all in the interest of maturity and personal growth. Having the means to control your own privacy online can most certainly help you with this.

2.- Transactions

Many times, people will see many of our actions as if they were something strange, simply due to a lack of context and understanding about our motivations.

Nobody wants to explain each act – often insignificant – that they perform day by day, hour by hour, and minute by minute, so privacy allows us to perform many of our daily activities in peace.

On the other hand, many types of relationships are based on privacy or confidentiality, which in turn is backed by trust. In many professional, business, or government relationships, when confidentiality is broken, trust is broken and the relationship is damaged.

Unfortunately, many organizations do not respect this factor and end up abusing the trust you give them, spying on your transactions, and using this information for their own benefit.

3.- Sovereignty

Privacy helps you limit the power that others might have over you, including large companies and governments. The manipulation that many organizations perform on your personal data for different purposes can influence a good part of the decisions you make – when making a purchase, for example.

You also have the right to meet privately with people who share interests and opinions similar to yours, whether in business, politics, or religion. This is very important as many times, third parties who may not share such ideas may also try to interfere to change those points of view. This is a threat to your freedom and sovereignty.

4.- Personal wealth

The vast amount of data that companies generate and store nowadays is used to gain greater control over processes and to create analytics-based predictive models to aid in decision-making.

All this data must be collected with the guarantee that no access has been violated or that there has been no manipulation that can influence the results of the data which can lead to negative economic outcomes for the organization.

Cybersecurity is in charge of taking care of the storage and privacy of this data to prevent that nothing and nobody can alter it or consult it without permission. Of course, when it comes to personal finances, the protection and privacy of your passwords, as well as the use of your money, is vital to preventing malicious agents from trying to scam you and steal your hard-earned money.

How privacy altcoins are taking lead when it comes to protecting user privacy

Cryptocurrencies have several features that make them ideal to be used as money on the internet. Security and privacy are two of these characteristics, but the reality is that the technology behind some cryptocurrencies, like Bitcoin (BTC), only protects users up to a point.

During the early years of Bitcoin, people believed that transactions were totally private and anonymous but in reality, it’s possible to trace all of Bitcoin’s transactions in its public ledger known as blockchain.

Realizing this, some groups of developers decided to create alternative cryptocurrencies to BTC that focused on protecting these aspects when carrying out operations on the blockchain; these are the so-called “privacy coins.”

The developers of these altcoins have tried to equip them with new advanced cryptography methods to maximize their ability to guarantee anonymity, to the point where some are still truly untraceable.

Although today, the number of privacy coins has increased significantly, the following three remain the most popular and important in the crypto ecosystem.

1.- Monero

Monero is currently positioned as the most notable private cryptocurrency in the ecosystem – it’s the one with the most market capitalization, according to CoinMarketCap.

Monero (XMR) was launched in 2014 as one of the first altcoins not based on the Bitcoin code, as it’s actually based on the CryptoNote protocol.

The Monero protocol uses confidential transactions and ring signatures to demonstrate ownership of unified cryptocurrencies in a group of transactions, without revealing which of these transactions was cryptographically signed.

In this way, it mixes the signed transaction with other operations, so it isn’t possible to know which transaction belongs to which person. It’s also noteworthy that in Monero, all transactions are private and anonymous by default.

Monero makes it possible to shield transactions against spies – such as analytics companies – but users can also use blockchain explorers to obtain information about the transactions.

Although the use of Monero has usually been linked mainly to black markets and unauthorized web mining, some web portals have implemented Monero mining as an alternative to generating income without resorting to invasive advertising.

You can learn more about Monero in this article, Why Monero is Better Than Bitcoin at Privacy.

2.- DASH

Dash or Digital Cash is a cryptocurrency launched in 2015 developed from the Litecoin code, and it’s an altcoin that has gained wide acceptance in several Latin American countries.

Unlike what happens with Monero, in the Dash protocol, private transactions – known as PrivateSend – are optional. These transactions are carried out between three users who wish to use this service, generating new addresses belonging such users. These transactions are mixed between the participants to erase the trace they leave on the network, something that can be repeated up to eight times automatically.

This task is carried out by the master node system of the Dash network, which mixes the transactions that have requested the PrivateSend service.

Masternodes are the governing figures of the Decentralized Autonomous Organization (DAO) that runs the Dash network and a masternode is a network member that proves to have at least 1,000 DASH.

Dash is a fairly complete ecosystem that offers its users tools to make private transactions, as well as a desktop wallet, a lightweight desktop wallet, an app and even a paper wallet. Dash is positioned as the second privacy coin in the ecosystem by market capitalization. You can get more information here, Dash Crypto: A Privacy Coin with a Promising Future.

3.- ZCash

Based on the principle of Zero-knowledge Proof, ZCash is a privacy-focused cryptocurrency launched in 2016. The ZCash protocol uses parameters called, zk-SNARKs (Zero-Knowledge Succinct Non-Interactive Argument of Knowledge), which allow users to prove the possession and validity of certain information without the need to reveal identity or interact with other users.

As with DASH, ZCash supports two types of transactions, shielded (with z addresses) or transparent (with t addresses), and users can choose the type of transaction they want at any time.

It’s odd, but it seems that nowadays t-addresses are more used, which means that most ZCash users ignore the possibilities of anonymous transactions.

Even so, the developers of ZCash are constantly implementing improvements to the network and currently, the cryptocurrency is positioned the 57th most popular cryptocurrency by way of market capitalization compared to all other cryptocurrencies in the market in general. It is also the the third favorite altcoin of users focused on privacy. Learn more here, What are the Benefits of ZCash?

Some reasons to underline the importance of privacy while transacting with cryptocurrencies

At first, these cryptocurrencies went unnoticed by a good portion of cryptocurrency users and investors. This was due in many cases to the bad reputation that has been created around them by calling them “criminal coins” – as some of their features are suitable for illegal activities.

However, in recent months, their popularity has been growing gradually, as more and more investors are interested in speculating with them. Even so, the main intention is still to take advantage of the anonymity and privacy they provide online because it turns out that more and more users are interested in hiding their payment history and keeping their transactions untraceable.

Another important reason is tax evasion by investors; as government authorities in different countries seek to tax the use of cryptocurrencies as investment assets, investors migrate to privacy coins that allow them to hide their operations and profits.

Fungibility goes hand in hand with privacy

Today, there are a large number of cryptocurrency exchanges available on the web. This, on the one hand, expands the number of options available to all types of users.

On the other hand, a large number of cryptocurrencies move in many exchanges whose previous use is unknown most of the time by users.

These traceable cryptocurrencies could have been used in illegal activities and be part of a judicial investigation that could end up causing problems for the final holder of such coins.

With a privacy coin this doesn’t happen because its activity cannot be traced, so the cryptocurrency is visible to everyone, totally free of any guilt; it’s equal to all other currencies. This is called fungibility.

Avoid surveillance by powerful organizations

Large companies and financial organizations keep a record of your activities on their networks. This allows them to have the power to block your operations if for some reason they consider that there is something suspicious about them, even if there is nothing strange – how many complaints are there out on the web about PayPal regarding this matter?

Performing financial operations in privacy coin networks, allows users to enjoy great freedom without fear of being blocked or ending up with their accounts banned for unfair reasons.

Protect you from data loss

Every month we see in the news, how large companies report data breaches that result in the theft of valuable information from millions of users, such as passwords, social security numbers and credit cards. This happens because cyber criminals are able to keep track of information in traditional centralized computer systems.

In modern decentralized systems based on blockchain – including those of privacy coins – it’s much more difficult for this to happen, since privacy and anonymity protect user information.

Conclusion

Privacy coins represent a natural evolution of first-generation cryptocurrencies; altcoins that solve the privacy problems of users and that offer a new range of possibilities thanks to this. Developers know this and for that reason, they are implementing privacy and anonymity features in the new generations of cryptocurrencies.

It’s very likely that in the future, as the adoption of blockchain increases and with it also restrictions, taxes and threats to security and privacy, more and more people will see privacy coins as the best alternative to have privacy and freedom when operating in the crypto world.

It’s true that cryptocurrencies are becoming more and more popular, but it’s also true that a large number of cryptocurrency projects are following a path in which certain values are sacrificed in exchange for profitability or growth. Today, it’s probable that one area that routinely is sacrificed is privacy.

This was the reason for the creation of ZCash (ZEC), the first cryptocurrency that, for several years, has been striving to maintain maximum security, privacy, and anonymity for its users using high-level cryptographic technology.

Since everyone is not comfortable with the fact that their cryptographic addresses, their balance, and the data of each transaction are publicly available to everyone, ZCash is presented as an excellent option to solve these problems.

Let’s explore ZCash and see what its benefits are for us common cryptocurrency users.

What is ZCash?

ZCash is a cryptocurrency based on a decentralized blockchain that was born as a fork of Bitcoin, with the objective of providing a privacy solution for the crypto ecosystem.

This cryptocurrency guarantees the anonymity of its users and the transactions that occur on its blockchain, using a model based on “zero-knowledge proofs” to verify transactions while at the same time hides its users’ personal information as well as the data of their operations.

Although it has many similarities to Bitcoin, ZCash offers greater anonymity, privacy, and fungibility than its big sister: ZCash has continued the model on which Bitcoin is based by using a public ledger, but with the important difference that it encrypts information about transactions and users.

This means that the transaction log is only visible to authorized users, thus solving a major problem for thousands of cryptocurrency users around the world who care about the security of their data and their privacy when operating in the crypto world.

History of ZCash

ZCash began in 2013-2014 as a joint venture between Johns Hopkins University students Matthew D. Green, Ian Miers, and Christina Garman.

They were the minds behind the design of Zerocoin, a protocol to improve the privacy and anonymity of Bitcoin. However, this first project had several points of failure.

Some months later, and in order to solve several of Zerocoin’s problems, they implemented the Zerocash protocol, which already featured the use of zk-SNARKs to increase the overall performance of this new cryptocurrency – more on this later.

Thanks to this, users could make direct payments to each other using a much more efficient cryptographic protocol that concealed not only the origin but also the amount of the payments.

It was then that on January 20, 2016, Zooko Wilcox-O’Hearn would make the official announcement presenting ZCash as a fork of Bitcoin to which support for the Zerocash protocol would be added. The rest is recent history.

How does ZCash work?

Basically, ZCash uses two types of addresses to carry out transactions, private addresses identified with the letter “z” and public addresses identified with the letter “t”.

Any transaction of the type z -> z will appear reflected in the blockchain, so it’ll be possible to know that this transaction was actually carried out.

However, the addresses, the transaction amount, and the memo field will remain encrypted and won’t be publicly visible, unless the users involved so decide.

This means that the participant of a transaction can choose to disclose the z address and details of that transaction with other people. This is possible thanks to the use of view and spend keys, which enables the display of transactions to trusted third parties for various purposes, such as audits, for example.

On the other hand, transactions of the type t -> t, work in the same way as transactions on the Bitcoin network.

Note that both z and t addresses are interoperable, so it is possible to transfer ZEC between z addresses and t addresses without any problem.

zk-SNARKs, the key protocol behind Zcash

zk-SNARKs means “Zero-Knowledge Succinct Non-Interactive Argument of Knowledge,” and it has to do with the elaboration of a test in which the possession of certain information can be demonstrated, without revealing the information as such, and without the existence of any type of interaction between users of a given transaction.

The main feature of zk-SNARKs is that their generation and verification are very efficient since their computational cost is very low. This increases its execution speed while promoting scalability.

Equihash, a different PoW algorithm

Although originally ZCash used the same algorithm as Bitcoin (SHA-256), it was changed in 2014 to Equihash.

Equihash is a Proof of Work (PoW) algorithm based on a cryptographic and computing problem called the Generalized Birthday Problem. This problem refers to the probability that in a group of 23 people there is a 50.7% probability that at least two of them have a birthday on the same day.

Based on this math problem, Equihash provides a very efficient verification that is ideal for thin clients on less powerful devices. At the same time, its high memory consumption makes it very resistant to specialized mining with ASICs and FPGAs, preventing the centralization of mining power by powerful groups.

What are the benefits of ZCash?

Although ZCash inherited some of the essential features of Bitcoin, it also brings some unique benefits that allow it to gain some ground against its elder sister. These are the most important:

Focus on anonymity

The Zero-knowledge Proof technology used by ZCash, which allows the network to process and verify transactions without revealing their information, such as payment addresses and the amount of the transaction, is a great advance in the crypto space.

In addition, the use of two different types of addresses – private and transparent – and their ability to interoperate with each other, provides great versatility to this cryptocurrency.

Fungibility

A currency that you can exchange for another that has exactly the same characteristics, regardless of whether it was used in legal or illegal operations – since it is impossible to trace – is a fungible currency.

The advantage of this is that if someone else did something “bad” with the coins you now have, it doesn’t necessarily affect you.

Scalability

Maintaining a good speed when processing transactions as the volume of these on the network increases, is a determining factor for a cryptocurrency to be considered as money for daily use. ZCash has managed to solve this problem with great efficiency, but it is something that Bitcoin is still struggling with.

Very, very low fees

Carrying out money sending and receiving transactions with ZCash is very affordable since the average transaction fee is very close to zero; in fact, most of the time the transactions have a cost close to 0.0001 ZEC. Even in situations where the network experiences a high volume of transactions and the blockchain is very active, fees don’t increase significantly.

Disclosure of information

The sender or recipient of a transaction have the option to disclose specific details of their operations to other people

Thanks to the use of view keys, users can reveal their information to a third party in cases of regulatory audits. This allows them to maintain their privacy while staying within the margins of the law.

Private memoranda

Another very useful feature of ZCash is its ability to send encrypted memos. This is especially useful for including messages such as instructions for the use of funds.

Decentralization

Since the ZCash blockchain is truly decentralized, the network is “naturally” very resistant to censorship and cyberattacks. Nor is there a central authority that has influence over the network operation.

Expiration of transactions

ZCash allows transactions to have an “expiration date” in order to minimize the impact on the network of unexploited transactions. By default, transactions that have not been processed after 50 minutes, will expire automatically and the funds will be returned to the sender.

Multi-signature transactions

Another interesting security feature of ZCash is that it supports transactions that require multiple signatures. This implies that some transactions, under certain circumstances, may require the authorization of two or more parties before funds can be sent. However, multi-signature transactions cannot be private, only public.

Acceptance in the real world

ZCash is a viable monetary alternative accepted by many merchants around the world, including service providers, vendors, retailers, and NGOs. You can find more information about this at the following Pay with ZCash link.

Easy access

Being one of the top cryptocurrencies on the market, ZEC is widely available in the main cryptocurrency exchanges and brokers that you can find on the Web. On top of that, it is easily accessible from multiple platforms, both desktop and mobile.

Conclusion

The evolution of the crypto ecosystem doesn’t stop, and as problems arise throughout this process, it’s important to focus on solutions with an open mind.

ZCash is one of those projects that offers practical solutions to problems that have arisen; a cryptocurrency to protect the sensitive data of its users without the need to trust any centralized data center or custody mechanism, in addition to being a guarantee of privacy.

When creativity is coupled with a vision, and people’s needs are taken into account, almost anything can be successfully accomplished. ZCash is the current proof of this.