🎙Zcash's Zooko Says Crypto Users Must Have The Choice To Transact Privately

This week on The Defiant podcast we speak to Zooko, the founder of  Zcash.  

He’s a crypto OG who wrote the first-ever blog post about Bitcoin and contributed to its early development before starting the privacy-focused blockchain.

Privacy remains one of the hottest issues in crypto after the U.S. Treasury’s recent move to sanction Tornado Cash.   And when using the biggest blockchains, Bitcoin and Ethereum, transactions are publicly visible on-chain. Zooko wonders if users really want all their financial information out in the open.

Zcash aims to provide users with the choice to transact privately in crypto.  Zooko believes the ability to consent to what information is made public is more about freedom than privacy and he thinks that eventually, this will be expected in the blockchain space.  

We explore what a private transaction using ZEC actually looks like, with shielded addresses visible only to the sender and receiver.

The level of control governments have managed to exert on a space that was seen as censorship resistant has sent crypto enthusiasts spiraling.  We talk about what this means for the future and if Zooko is concerned about governments imposing sanctions on Zcash.

Finally, Zooko talks about The Electric Coin Company’s future plans, which include moving Zcash from proof-of-work to proof-of-stake, a standalone wallet, and improved interoperability between different blockchains and apps.

🎙Listen to the interview in this week’s podcast episode here:

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👀 Only paid subscribers have access to the full interview transcript below.