Darknet Cryptocurrency Showdown – An Unbiased Comparison of Zcash vs Monero
To compare these two privacy-focused cryptocurrencies we talked to Konstantin Gladych, CEO at Changelly.

Zcash is a new privacy-focused cryptocurrency that is getting a lot of positive feedback and coverage recently despite just being launched. Monero is believed to be one of the most in-demand untraceable CryptoNote cryptocurrencies. Providing anonymity and unlinkable encrypted transactions, Monero became one of the kind in Darknet, and its rates skyrocketed thrice as high on trading platforms.
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Changelly is a crypto exchange with two years on the market. It offers instant transactions without amount restrictions, supports 25 cryptocurrencies and has over 100 thousand active users from around the world, making more than 1000 transactions daily. Changelly also offers an instant exchange API and widgets for digital wallets, ICO platforms and merchants. The company has recently partnered with CoinMarketCap, DECENT, official NEM/XEM nanowallet, Freewallet, Navcoin and other services.
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To compare Zcash and Monero and offer a clear vision of their main features and differences, we talked to Konstantin Gladych, CEO of Changelly which supports both cryptocurrencies:
Anonymity
Anonymity is the main feature both Zcash and Monero are about. Can it be different? The confidentiality of Monero is achieved due to so called one-time ring signatures. It’s the basis of the original CryptoNote protocol implemented in the crypto. The protocol hides a sender, recipient and transaction history.
The Monero team keeps testing new technologies for even better privacy protection. The upcoming Ring Confidential Transactions (Ring CT) system will allow users to hide the amounts of XMR they send. Thus with the next hardfork Monero is going to be totally private and untraceable.
Zcash does pretty much the same as Monero. But why is this crypto so appealing for many users who want to protect their data from third parties? Is Zcash better than Monero, after all? To answer this question, let’s take a closer look at its principle of work. Zcash uses a different zero-knowledge proof construction, called a zk-SNARK that hides transactions with all payment metadata and protects users from robbery or cheating.
Unlike CryptoNote, the proven stealth algorithm, zk-SNARKs aren’t used anywhere. In addition, Zcash requires special key data for a ‘Trusted Setup’. In other words, it’s the proof of guaranteed secure transactions made in order to eliminate the possible fact of fraud in the global blockchain. Monero doesn’t need this ceremony which takes time and efforts on a user’s part.
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Differences

One of the main differences between Monero and Zcash is that Monero currently mixes one transaction data with others, whereas Zcash hides them completely. However, this issue is to be solved when Monero’s Ring CT is released in 2017.
Despite new technologies implemented in Zcash, the new yet lacks the strong technical realization of true anonymity. However both of currencies have their unbeatable advantages – Monero is the market-proven cryptocurrency with reliable mechanisms of work. As for Zcash, it has a great team of developers behind and technical innovations which are about to be enhanced.
Another feature of Zcash is that it can function as the Bitcoin fork and support regular, traceable transactions, which is crucial for large trade platforms and wallets.
GUI wallets
Although Monero was released several years ago, it still hasn’t a GUI wallet which you can download to your computer. However, there is a plenty of online Monero wallets including ones for smartphones.
Zcash appeared to be more prompt at this point. Its GUI wallet is available on GitHub.
Mining
As a rule, the mining process requires powerful machines since the power is directly related to the mined amount. Both Zcash and Monero have different mining algorithms.
Monero has CryptoNight, a proof-of-work algorithm designed for CPU mining without special devices like ASICs.
Zcash, in turn, uses Equihash, another PoW algorithm that consumes massive amounts of GPU memory making the mining process virtually unavailable on average desktop computers. Currently Equihash hasn’t been optimised for mining. The Zcash team keeps working on this.
Bottom line
What’s the best? This is up to the investors to decide. Monero is a time proven and reliable crypto beloved by the Darknet. Zcash is a brand new digital currency with unique algorithms providing both public and private transactions.
Zcash is a scam.
ZCash is financed by wrong institutions, and they are now trying to hide it. Some webpage is missing now already… In short, financed by USA and Israel governments, they can insert as much coins as they want. Real Fiat 2.0. ZCash is deception. ZCash is scam!
The info is still there that makes Zcash dubious: http://zerocash-project.org/about_us
Just because some of the work was sponsored by DARPA and the Israeli government doesn’t make it a scam. Zooko is a good guy.
you are correct, what makes it a scam is the 20% of mining going to the devs and the trusted setup that allows 6 guys to print money at will without the public knowing.
I prefer Shadowcash, which also uses ring signatures similar to cryptonote and monero. But its designed on a Bitcoin codebase so its a lot more compatible with current infrastructure. It is designed to be able to implement ZK-snarks in the future as well, so it can benefit from zcash development. It is also has a nice GUI wallet, which monero lacks, and Shadow Market will be released soon as a decentralized market place similar to open bazaar. Considering the market cap difference between shadowcash and monero, its very undervalued and probably a good investment.
ZCASH is looking like a scam and monero is the only logical option for the darknet.
Alphabay reports 2% of all transactions are completed in monero. ZCASH is very volatile and may allow the owners of the site to make a little more cash if they play their cards right. But monero is the BEST option for sellers and buyers on the site
I was expecting to receive some Monero yesterday in the afternoon, but It has not arrive yet. how long does it usually take for a transaction to be confirmed in Monero? will that speed change?