Over the past two weeks, ZEC has risen roughly 60% (source: CoinMarketCap), evidently because it became an operating ETF on August 24-25 (source: SEC final prospectus).
As I started looking into it more, there seems to be a clear asymmetry between Zcash and Monero across regulation and institutional access. ZEC now has an exchange-listed US investment product, while XMR has faced increasing exclusion from regulated exchanges (source: Kraken).
I am naturally skeptical of anything institutions put their full support in, and this asymmetry triggers multiple alarms for me.
Curious what people think and know.
Because with ZCASH by default when move from exchange transparent address you uses transparent address too. To use shielded address you must optin, it’s not default.
Right, but if the user opts in for a “shielded address”, that would still be the equivalent of what XMR is. Which I would assume would imply that if they accept Zcash shielded address in exchanges, they should also accept Monero, as it is the same by nature.
I don’t find it sensible that they would accept a privacy coin just because you could opt-out of it to be transparent.
Litecoin also has an opt-in privacy layer now (MWEB) and unlike Zcash I see it offered as a payment option almost as often as Bitcoin. So, not sure what Zcash does better.
[Exploring the use of Zcash cryptocurrency for illicit or criminal purposes]
Monero has a marketing problem whereby it is arguably advertised, or at least perceived, as being particularly suitable for illicit transactions. This is evident in Monero’s overrepresentation in transactions on dark-web markets. Zcash has, for one reason or another, largely avoided being associated with illicit use. QubesOS could be considered a similar marketing success: it is a privacy and security tool that has largely avoided acquiring such a negative reputation.
There is also the fact that, by virtue of its hybrid shielded/unshielded approach, centralised exchanges do not necessarily have to deal with shielded ZEC, and in practice they largely do not.
Then again, this could also simply be a fluke and a result of ZEC’s failure to become the preeminent privacy coin. It’s reputation may not hold if it one day overtakes Monero as a result of it’s superior privacy properties.
no no no
Exchanges don’t accept shield addresses.
And when you just move ZCASH from exchange to transparent address will you remember/know that you must move it 2nd time to shielded?
