How Does Zcash Work ?

Zcash is a digital currency that uses cryptography to provide enhanced privacy for its users. Unlike other digital currencies, Zcash offers true anonymity, which means that transactions are not traceable.

This makes it an attractive choice for those who value their privacy.

How does Zcash work?

Zcash uses a technology called zero-knowledge proofs to ensure that all transactions are fully encrypted. This means that no one can see the contents of a transaction unless they have the correct key.

Zero-knowledge proofs allow two parties to share information without revealing any identifying details. For example, imagine that Alice wants to prove to Bob that she knows a secret. She can do this using a zero-knowledge proof.

First, Alice creates a public key and a private key. The public key is available to everyone, but the private key is known only to Alice.

Next, Alice encrypts the secret using her private key. This creates a ciphertext that can be decrypted using her public key.

Finally, Alice sends the ciphertext to Bob. Bob can then decrypt it using Alice's public key, but he cannot determine the original secret because he does not have access to her private key.

Zero-knowledge proofs are used in a variety of ways to ensure the privacy of Zcash users. For example, when someone creates a new Zcash address, they generate a zk-SNARK public key and a private key. The public key is available to anyone, but the private key is known only to the user.

When someone wants to send Zcash to another person, they use the recipient's public key to generate a ciphertext. This ciphertext can be decrypted using the recipient's private key, but the sender cannot determine the original Zcash because they do not have access to the recipient's private key.

zk-SNARKs are also used to verify that a transaction has taken place without revealing any details about it. For example, when someone wants to send Zcash to another person, they create a transaction and send it to the network.

Miners on the network check that the transaction is valid and then add it to the blockchain. However, they cannot see any of the details of the transaction, such as the sender or recipient.

This allows Zcash users to transact freely without having to worry about their privacy being compromised.