$88,638.00
1.96%$1,630.11
0.32%$2.10
-0.80%$605.72
0.81%$140.43
0.95%$0.999897
-0.00%$0.164418
1.74%$0.244913
0.97%$0.640675
0.21%$1,629.12
0.34%$88,528.00
2.09%$13.47
0.13%$20.41
-0.56%$8.82
-6.99%$0.250039
-2.94%$2.32
3.38%$0.0000126
0.08%$2.92
-3.08%$0.172824
1.42%$0.99991
0.01%$1,955.46
0.38%$347.10
2.14%$18.38
2.77%$79.90
-0.35%$3.78
-3.01%$4.46
-0.04%$0.999884
0.02%$0.999012
-0.02%$1,628.98
0.29%$0.635808
0.46%$28.39
0.88%$217.62
1.31%$1,735.68
0.30%$88,667.00
2.03%$0.00000818
4.20%$5.42
0.13%$51.10
0.72%$4.94
-4.30%$23.17
1.26%$328.89
5.67%$0.865133
-1.11%$2.24
-2.20%$32.04
-1.90%$1.049
0.15%$4.74
-4.83%$1.00
0.00%$0.092486
12.64%$15.71
-2.47%$0.684307
2.69%$4.40
-0.40%$0.082698
-0.89%$148.00
2.58%$1.17
-0.01%$0.02381349
-1.90%$0.217763
10.21%$4.11
-3.69%$88,329.00
2.16%$4.23
-0.07%$8.53
3.42%$0.195033
-1.73%$2.53
-4.80%$0.297115
-0.51%$0.998216
-0.08%$0.593186
-4.22%$2.53
-3.09%$0.479581
-0.92%$0.302674
-2.81%$3.94
0.74%$88,446.00
1.79%$9.85
-1.85%$146.94
0.93%$0.410642
3.00%$1,385.64
0.21%$0.760825
8.37%$0.696945
-3.89%$0.072265
1.03%$1.071
18.63%$1.053
2.84%$0.00001325
6.33%$0.792674
0.60%$0.01622776
-1.01%$67.97
1.27%$1,629.99
0.32%$3.62
-4.39%$0.633858
-1.95%$1,696.52
0.27%$0.181245
0.75%$1.00
0.02%$0.999516
-0.03%$3,476.37
1.42%$0.999896
-0.01%$0.467792
-3.33%$14.82
4.48%$8.65
-3.06%$0.622641
1.15%$0.085145
0.38%$0.999765
-0.01%$3,474.01
1.26%$605.73
0.82%$1,835.50
0.35%$88,069.00
2.39%$88,590.00
2.06%$0.01601201
-1.24%$0.01429483
-3.80%$154.97
1.01%$2.35
4.06%$0.277864
-0.63%$0.997742
0.00%$0.114735
7.47%$180.59
1.06%$0.730865
-0.58%$0.645218
-4.84%$0.172815
0.98%$0.640305
-3.08%$1,733.40
0.39%$0.998707
-0.01%$3.45
0.73%$0.00000061
0.37%$88,906.00
1.91%$0.375896
0.19%$1.096
-1.25%$29.29
0.95%$0.00629727
18.23%$1.95
-1.38%$0.00005947
0.88%$0.01704912
-3.22%$0.299244
-3.26%$1.72
2.30%$0.223248
-3.90%$0.435994
0.02%$3.33
1.04%$0.50715
-0.57%$0.142891
-2.05%$1,704.30
0.35%$15.34
1.12%$0.528436
-3.44%$31.02
-2.43%$0.998625
0.02%$0.067536
-0.51%$0.00831496
11.72%$87,273.00
4.06%$0.999894
-0.00%$0.999894
-0.00%$0.420986
0.73%$0.594755
-1.58%$88,321.00
0.00%$88,606.00
1.85%$0.447972
2.80%$0.479557
4.09%$1.60
-5.82%$1.25
1.09%$0.00000043
0.82%$0.164593
1.98%$2.00
-7.12%$0.0000209
0.53%$1.084
-0.00%$1.001
-0.01%$110.77
0.02%$88,304.00
2.06%$14.22
-0.49%$1,646.84
-2.94%$0.135702
-1.41%$1,627.33
0.27%$5.51
-3.06%$0.591401
1.86%$0.218155
10.42%$3.46
-1.08%$0.46521
-1.77%$2.31
-1.51%$0.072023
-0.80%$5.59
-0.95%$1,630.78
0.37%$40.18
-1.98%$0.03746587
-1.58%$21.82
-1.70%$0.999741
-0.03%$1,630.66
0.38%$1,629.29
0.29%$1.00
-0.00%$0.997366
-0.39%$0.0352034
-2.19%$0.07635
-7.37%$1,733.55
0.39%$0.170328
-0.89%$0.00649356
-0.86%$0.0039726
9.62%$0.533937
3.73%$0.00006075
-2.39%$0.282867
3.15%$0.01711479
1.46%$0.00524658
2.30%$0.4034
-3.07%$0.782256
0.02%$1.002
0.32%$0.99973
0.01%$0.119475
-3.74%$0.03116438
0.79%$0.314554
25.36%$1,662.38
0.62%$0.999958
0.02%$0.30966
1.70%$0.117561
27.66%$0.139933
0.19%$0.693549
-3.42%$88,508.00
1.98%$2.51
-2.64%$0.99976
-0.02%$25.14
3.47%$106.42
-1.73%$3.43
0.99%$0.00000134
5.39%$0.222209
0.88%$1.099
-0.12%$88,381.00
3.14%$3,187.04
0.00%$0.00044091
2.96%$0.583053
-0.52%$2.76
0.32%$0.25975
-2.70%$1,610.76
0.42%$0.572813
3.77%$20.87
-2.61%$0.03579407
-1.71%$0.107107
0.45%$0.177705
0.37%$1,630.37
0.41%$0.483329
1.19%$1,780.27
1.97%$1,722.60
0.32%$20.31
-0.53%$0.00267763
8.18%$0.02802061
0.25%$0.999987
-0.01%$0.417574
-0.13%$0.01194741
0.20%$0.694491
3.01%$0.999902
-0.05%$14.04
-0.08%$1.15
-0.40%$1.39
-0.92%$2.13
0.19%$1.094
-0.02%$0.223477
-11.53%$88,678.00
1.82%$0.854983
-1.12%$0.939333
1.04%$2.70
1.85%$0.999782
0.01%Reading
Edward Snowden, the famed National Security Agency whistleblower, helped launch Zcash in 2016, a representative of the Zcash inventors Electric Coin Company told Decrypt.
Snowden joined Zcash creator Zooko Wilcox, Bitcoin core developer Peter Todd, Coin Center's Peter Van Valkenburgh and two others in launching the Zcash blockchain. In a process known as "trusted setup," the six participants each received a sliver of the private key needed to create the cryptocurrency. Previously, the identity of the sixth participant was known by the pseudonym "John Dobbertin."
The culmination of the creation ceremony involved destroying the keys.
"If anybody has access to this key, they could counterfeit Zcash without anybody knowing," Electric Coin Company SVP Josh Swihart told Decrypt. "So what it required was a setup where the key could be generated by six different parties, and if any party was honest and destroyed their part of the key, then it would be safe from counterfeiting."
The news was first reported by Forbes based on a leaked video from Zcash Media of Snowden, in which he discusses the need for a privacy-centric alternative to Bitcoin. "Bitcoin quite famously is an open ledger," he states. "The problem with that is you can't have truly free trade unless you have private trade. And you can't have a free society without free trade."
Edward Snowden gives an extensive interview to Marta Belcher of Filecoin Foundation for Camp Ethereal 2022, taped on February 27. He talks about how governments view crypto as "an evolving threat," how crypto "transforms power relationships," why he thinks Ethereum "suffers from the same privacy problems as Bitcoin," and why he views central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) as "crypto-fascist currencies."
Zcash is known as a privacy coin because it harnesses zero-knowledge proofs, a form of cryptography that can be used to verify that a legitimate transaction took place without needing to see the details.
Snowden has been living in exile in Russia since being charged by the U.S. government with espionage in 2013, after he leaked documents about the NSA's surveillance program to the press. Before he could be arrested, Snowden fled to Russia, seeking asylum. He's now a resident.
Despite his involvement in the privacy coin, Snowden reportedly wasn't into Zcash for the cash—and Electric Coin Company says he wasn't given crypto or any other compensation for his involvement.
"He did it as a service, as a public good, and believing in privacy," said Swihart.
Crypto's best minds are heading east, and it's gaining at a pace that other regions are finding hard to catch up to. Asia was responsible for 32% of global crypto developer activity in 2024, according to a report from venture firm Electric Capital. The firm recently published its comprehensive annual report, analyzing over 900 million code commits across the crypto industry. The transformation represents a nearly threefold increase from Asia's 12% share in 2015, while North America's position de...
Google's announcement of its breakthrough Willow quantum processor has reignited debates about crypto security, with some observers suggesting quantum computers could break Bitcoin's encryption. The tech giant claims its new quantum computing chip can complete certain calculations in five minutes, which would take traditional supercomputers an impractical amount of time to process. Quantum computing is a new type of computing that uses the strange properties of quantum physics, where small part...
Dimo, a platform for developers to build apps and enable car drivers to monetize their data, is migrating between Ethereum scaling networks, the developers exclusively told Decrypt—from Polygon to Coinbase’s Base. Co-founder Rob Solomon believes the move opens doors for valuable partnerships ahead. The project is a “global API layer for cars” that is aiming to make every car on earth smart and programmable. This could manifest, the company says, in a future full of AI car mechanics and smart par...
