Halving and Zcash Update (ZEC): what has changed?

The anonymous payment network Zcash (ZEC) has just experienced two major changes. He did his first halving, as well as an update that should ease some tensions … We take stock of the subject.

Halving for Zcash (ZEC)

Like Bitcoin Billionaire, Zcash uses a periodic mechanism to control its inflation: halving. This halves the mining rewards generated. Until yesterday, 6.25 ZEC were generated with each block. Since the halving, miners will only produce 3,125 ZEC per block, or about $ 200 at the current price.

No particular problem was noted during this change. The hashrate does not seem to have been strongly affected by this halving so far, if we are to believe the data from bitinfocharts . However, it will be necessary to wait the next few weeks to see if this halving will have an effect on the number of minors participating in the Zcash network.

A major update for the altcoin

Zcash’s halving, however, was almost overshadowed by another big piece of news: the Canopy update . It follows months of debates within the Zcash community. Originally, the network was funded by a “Founders Reward” , which allowed 15% of mining rewards to be redirected to Zcash founders and investors. This temporary measure normally ended this month, in November 2020.

But Zooko Wilcox, the head of the Electric Coin Company, had suggested extending this solution, to continue funding the network . This had sparked a significant outcry, and many debates had animated the Zcash community, which eventually came to an agreement. A development fund has been created to establish a new funding model.

From now on, 80% of the rewards will go to minors, as was already the case. But 8% of the prize will be for the x ‚Major Grants “ , which correspond to a development fund. 7% will then be distributed to the Electric Coin Company, and 5% to the Zcash foundation.

The Electric Coin Company welcomed this breakthrough, which it considers crucial:

“Activating Canopy represents a new era for Zcash , with many new participants in the ecosystem. We will continue to carry out our mission: to give everyone their economic freedom. „

The course of the ZEC is also climbing

It must be said that Zcash and other anonymous currency projects like Monero (XMR) have been under fire from regulators for many months. Yesterday, we learned that South Korea had quite simply decided to ban the trading of anonymous altcoins . However, the price of Zcash has been rising in recent weeks, as has that of Bitcoin.

Over a week, it takes + 13% , reaching more than $ 67 overnight. Just like BTC, however, its price underwent a strong correction in the hours that followed: it hit $ 60 early this morning:

However, its progression over the last twelve months is positive: it thus takes + 77% over the year . Its market cap exceeds $ 646 million, which places it at rank 38 in the ranking of cryptocurrencies by capitalization.