Get the weekly summary of crypto market analysis, news, and forecasts! This Week’s Summary The crypto market ends the week at a total market capitalization of $1,165 trillion. Bitcoin is up by over 2% after a rollercoaster of a week. Ethereum decreased by almost 1% over the past seven days. XRP gained more than 15% in value this week. Almost all altcoins are trading in the green, with very few exceptions. The DeFi sector decreased the total value of protocols…
Zcash Halving: What Has Changed For The Privacy Coin?
Anonymous payment network Zcash (ZEC) recently had its halving where rewards are reduced by half. This major development is set to change the dynamics of the privacy coin.
Zcash Undergoes First Halving
Just like Bitcoin (BTC), Zcash uses a periodic mechanism to control inflation on its blockchain called ‘’Halving’’. Halving reduces the mining rewards generated by miners and helps to reduce inflation. Until yesterday, 6.25 ZEC were generated from each block. Since the halving, miners will only be rewarded with 3.125 ZEC ($200) per block.
The halving has been successful so far, with no particular problem noted with this change. ZEC made huge gains after the halving and hit $67 in the early hours of today. However, its price underwent a strong collection in the hours that followed and is currently valued at $61.60.
The hashrate does not seem to have been strongly affected according to this data from bitinfocharts. However, it will be necessary to wait until the next few weeks to see if this halving will affect the ZCash blockchain. This is because miners are likely to stop mining the coin and focus on other protocols that generate more rewards.
Zcash Implements Crucial Update on Network
Zcash’s halving was almost overshadowed by the implementation of the Canopy update on the Zcash network. The integration of this update followed months of debates within the Zcash community.
Originally, the Zcash network was funded by a ‘’Founders Reward’’ which allowed 15% of mining rewards to be redirected to Zcash founders and investors. This temporary measure was supposed to stop at the end of November. However, Zooko Wilcox, the head of the Electric Coin Company, suggested extending this measure to continue funding the network.
This sparked a significant outcry and debates within the Zcash community before an agreement was reached. A development fund was created to establish a new funding model integrated into the Canopy update.
From now on, 80% of the rewards will go to miners, as was already the case. The major change is that 8% of the rewards will be sent to the development fund. In comparison, 7% will be distributed to the Electric Coin Company and 5% to the Zcash foundation. These two developments ensure that the future of Zcash looks secured at the moment, which is evident in its price movement.