On Friday, Electric Coin Company (ECC), the developers behind the privacy-centric crypto-asset zcash, revealed the network plans to transition to proof-of-stake (PoS) consensus. ECC also revealed that the team plans to launch an official ECC wallet, as well as strengthen interoperability between channels in the network.
Zcash to Change From PoW to PoS
The Zcash network currently leverages a proof-of-work mining algorithm called Equihash, which allows miners to compete in order to find new blocks on the Zcash chain. In a blog post published on November 19, the ECC announced that the network will move to a Proof of Stake (PoS) consensus algorithm over the next three years. Zooko Wilcox-O’Hearn discussed the network switch from PoW to PoS in a blog post published on August 3, 2021.
Furthermore, ECC’s CTO Nate Wilcox also published a blog post about the PoS subject a week after Zooko’s post. In the roadmap article released Friday, ECC explains that the transition to PoS “will increase the utility of ZEC through capabilities that include yield generation by staking.” At the same time, the PoS can also lead the ZEC chain towards chain “governance mechanisms”, details the ECC roadmap.
ECC Looks Toward a ‘Reduction of Zcash’s Energy Footprint’ — Zcash-Based ASIC Miners Still Rule the Roost
ECC’s blog post further states that a PoS-based ZEC chain can contribute to the “reduction of the ZEC energy footprint.” During the course of the year, PoW consensus algorithms have received a lot of criticism concerning PoW’s effect on the environment. ECC’s roadmap post adds:
We believe the move to proof of stake is achievable within three years if we are able to focus our time and effort and hire additional talent.
The value per zcash (ZEC) has jumped a great deal since the news and is up 23.6% during the last 24 hours. During the initial launch, Zcash network blocks were processed by miners with graphics processing units (GPUs), but in recent years, application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) miners have taken over.
At the time of writing, a Bitmain Antminer Z15 that processes the Equihash algorithm at 420 ksol/s gets $33.44 per day in ZEC rewards. Innosilicon’s A9 ++ Zmaster makes around 140 ksol / s and generates a profit of $ 8.13 per day using today’s ZEC exchange rate.
