Monero and Zcash Conferences Showcase Their Differences

Published on by Coindesk | Published on

Over 200 people gathered in Croatia for Zcon1, organized by the nonprofit Zcash Foundation, while roughly 75 attendees gathered in Denver for the first Monero Konferenco.

This funding source is the crux of distinction between zcash and projects like monero or bitcoin.

The amount of trust zcash users place in the asset's founders and their various organizations is the primary criticism levied against zcash.

Paul Shapiro, CEO of the crypto wallet startup MyMonero, told CoinDesk he's not convinced that zcash upholds the same cypherpunk ideals as monero.

The Zcash Foundation donated almost 20 percent of the funding for the Monero Konferenco.

Zcash setup gave the founders data often called "Toxic waste," because the founding participants could theoretically exploit the software that determines what makes a zcash transaction valid.

In short, zcash fans prefer the hybrid startup model for these experiments and monero fans prefer a completely grassroots model as they tinker with ring signatures and research trustless zk-SNARK replacements.

Stepping back, the long-standing beef between monero and zcash fans is the Biggie vs. Tupac divide of the cryptocurrency world.

Former ECC consultant Andrew Miller, current president of the Zcash Foundation, co-authored a paper in 2017 about a vulnerability in monero's anonymity system.

Wilcox told CoinDesk the zcash ecosystem will continue to move toward "More decentralization, but not too far and not too fast." After all, this hybrid structure enabled funding for fast growth compared to other blockchains, including the incumbent monero.

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