Zcash

Zcash used to be Zero coin and is a fairly new cryptocurrency (started in 2016) that is starting to gain popularity among other coins. This popularity is mostly based on the idea of Zcash being anonymous and I think it does it better than bitcoin.

 

Unlike the Bitcoin Blockchain, where the sender and receiver in a transaction are known, Zcash allows you to send and receive coins anonymously using a technique called the”Zero knowledge proof” protocol. Here, passwords aren’t exchanged in a transaction unlike other cryptos. These improvements were done on the Bitcoin code by Zcash creator Zooko Wilcox. He built Zcash by making improvements to the Bitcoin coin, making it anonymous and faster. So, I feel, if true anonymity is what you want, Zcash might be the answer.

 

Transactions using Zcash are cheaper and faster. It takes less than 3 minutes to confirm a transaction unlike bitcoin that takes about 10 minutes.  It also doesn’t have bank fees. Even more, it costs just a few cents to perform transactions, but this can change depending on how busy the Zcash Blockchain is. It's like supply and demand.

 

As much as Zcash has the potential to be one of the most popular and most used coins in the near future, I feel it also has a potential in the long term to become a haven for criminal activities. Zcash provides an access key for all users where a transaction history can be viewed. The user has to voluntarily allow for this to be used to check transaction data and a criminal will most likely not buy into that. 

 

I also think that Zcash can also still be faster. It currently takes 3 minutes to process a transaction but there are other coins that do it in less time.