According to Electric Coin Company, the team behind cryptocurrency network Zcash, the protocol will soon implement the biggest upgrade in history. The Zcash development team has released the 5.0.0 codebase which supports the NU5 upgrade which will happen on or around May 31st at block height 1,687,104.
Electric Coin Company and Zcash prepare network upgrade
The second largest privacy-centric crypto network by market cap, Zcash, will see a significant upgrade on or around May 31. Electric Coin Company and Zcash developers have released the binaries for the Zcash 5.0.0 codebase and the binaries are now available through the Zcash download web portal. The developers are asking all Zcash participants running the codebase software to update to the latest version or any subsequent version.
According to the latest blog post from Electric Coin Company (ECC), NU5 plans to implement the Orchard’s Shielded Payment Protocol and Halo Audit System. The firm says it will “remove reliance on complex set-up ceremonies.” “The efficiencies built into this upgrade enable — for the first time ever — private, trusted digital cash payments on mobile phones,” reads ECC’s blog post. “Halo also paves the way for improved interoperability by providing a system that can unlock private cross-chain proofs at scale.”
Zcash founder Zooko Wilcox-O’Hearn continues tweeted about Wednesday’s release. It’s here – Zcashd 5.0.0 – If Zcash users choose to run zcashd 5.0.0, Zcash Network Upgrade 5 will be activated on the mainnet later this month,” Zooko said. “This is a historic advance for human society. It’s a historic advance for two reasons: 1. It puts the world’s most solid money – Zcash – on a foundation of long-term, scalable and extensible cryptography. 2. It marks the maturation of zero-knowledge evidence into a general-purpose technology.”
The Zcash founder continued:
Network Upgrade 5 moves Zcash to the foundation of an entirely new zero-knowledge-proof system: Zcash Halo, the first zero-knowledge-proof system that is both (a) efficient and recursive and (b) non-ceremonious is (“trusted setups”).
ECC Board: “Complicated Trusted Setup Ceremonies are now a thing of the past”
According to ECC, the upgrade was “extensively reviewed at both the specification and implementation levels,” and the team also leveraged third-party audits from NCC and QEDIT. Additionally, the team used Ethereum Foundation crypto researcher Mary Maller to conduct a review. Maller reviewed the “theoretical reasoning behind the zero-knowledge and the robustness of the protocol” in Halo2 security clearance. Josh Swihart, ECC’s senior vice president of growth, product strategy, and regulatory affairs, said the upgrade will be the largest of the protocol.
“NU5 is the biggest network upgrade in Zcash history. By using Orchard’s Halo verification system and shielded payment protocol, complex trusted set-up ceremonies are now a thing of the past, and users can make private, trusted digital cash payments on mobile phones,” Swihart said in a note sent to Bitcoin.com News. “The upgrade marks a significant milestone in zero-knowledge cryptography, and not just for Zcash.”
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