Since Zcash is pumping and in the news, I thought it would be interesting to compare Zcash v. eCash, ZEC v. XEC. Some might say this is cope, but I call it research. Pay 1000 XEC to unlock the paywall…
🔥 22 unlocks and counting...
If you enjoyed this article, please send a link to others (along with some XEC), so they can experience using cash for the internet themselves.
Nice comparison.
In my own research I also compared coins based on: hardware wallet integration, smart contract possibilities, number of nodes, merchant adoption, number of developers and their competency, development funding amount, development culture and principles.
I should have included the hardware integration factor in one of the sections, as well as your other points. Would love to know how many ZEC nodes there are if you know the answer. Also, what’s your take on developer competency, culture and principles between the two teams?
Zcash has 1729 nodes according to https://blockchair.com/zcash/nodes
10 times less activity on their repository (https://www.cryptomiso.com/)
I also remember Zooko talking in an interview about a critical bug that they had for a long time. When he found out about it, they decided to wait for their regular update before disclosing it.
I assume they made a wrong design decision to integrate anonymity at the base layer which complicates their job. So, I think their devs are competent but not good engineers.
The way they split the developer funding seems a a little too bureaucratic. The fact that Zooko is no longer leading the project doesn’t inspire confidence. I like they contacted Snowden for their initial secret key generation, and their focus on privacy but I think they sacrifice scalability which hinders mass adoption.
Thanks for the info. I always thought the whole ceremony when they started seemed hokey but I never looked too closely into it. The fact that zcash was rewritten 3 times from scratch also doesn’t instill confidence even though they think it’s something to be proud of: https://x.com/zcash_community/status/1973342459863376045