A beginner’s guide to buying, selling and trading Zcoin in the US.
Zcoin is a digital cryptocurrency that uses the Zerocoin Protocol to allow private transactions. This protocol uses zero-knowledge proofs to guarantee anonymity to Zcoin users.
Where can I buy, sell and trade Zcoin?
Zcoin is available on a number of popular cryptocurrency exchanges, including:
How to buy Zcoin: Step-by-step instructions
If you want to buy XZC in the US, here’s an example of how you can do it:
Step 1. Create an account that accepts USD
Gemini is a local cryptocurrency exchange that allows you to exchange US dollars (AUD) for bitcoin (BTC) or Ethereum (ETH), which you can then trade for Zcoin. You can sign up for a free account by providing your contact information and uploading a copy of your driver’s license.
Step 2. Deposit funds into your account
Click the “Transfer Funds” and “Deposit Into Exchange” links from your Gemini account dashboard to make an online deposit via ACH bank transfer or wire transfer.
Step 3. Buy BTC or ETH
Once you’ve submitted a deposit, you’ll be able to purchase BTC or ETH through the “Buy” menu item.
Step 4. Transfer BTC or ETH and buy XZC
After a few days when your deposit clears, you’ll be able to transfer your cryptocurrency to an exchange that offers XZC for purchase. Sign up with that exchange and get the address to transfer your BTC or ETH. Once it arrives in your new exchange’s wallet, you can then trade it for XZC.
Note that many cryptocurrency exchanges don’t offer the option of exchanging fiat currency (like USD) directly for XZC. Instead, you may need to purchase bitcoin (BTC), Litecoin (LTC) or Ethereum (ETH), or any other cryptocurrency offered in an XZC pairing, and then exchange that cryptocurrency for XZC.
How to sell Zcoin
If you want to sell XZC that you already hold, the steps you need to follow are very similar to those listed above, with the obvious difference that you’ll be clicking on the “Sell XZC” link. You will then need to follow the prompts to exchange XZC for your chosen currency, which could be a cryptocurrency or, on some exchanges, fiat currency such as USD.
Which wallets can I use to hold Zcoin?
The Zcoin official wallet is available for download from the Zcoin website. This wallet works on both Windows and Mac operating systems, while you also have the option to download the Coinomi Wallet from Google Play for use on Android devices.
How Zcoin works
While there’s a widely held belief among the general population that bitcoin and all other cryptocurrencies are completely anonymous, this isn’t actually the case. As all transactions are kept on a public ledger called the blockchain and readily available to anyone savvy enough to do some digging, law enforcement agencies and researchers have made significant progress towards identifying the people behind cryptocurrency transactions. The Zerocoin Protocol was created in 2013 and was originally meant to be a bitcoin extension. It uses zero-knowledge proofs, which are basically a method of proving something without giving away any data, with the aim of providing private and secure transactions. Performing private transactions with Zcoin involves three steps:
- Mint. The first step is to select the number of coins you want to mint. A corresponding number of old coins in your Zcoin account are burned cryptographically, and your account is then credited with new coins that have no transaction history attached to them.
- Spend. You can then send your newly minted Zcoins to someone else anonymously because they do not have any transaction history.
- Repeat. You can repeat the minting and spending process as many times as you want.
Zcoin was released to the public in September 2016 by Poramin Insom, the founder and lead developer of this cryptocurrency project.
What to consider before buying Zcoin
Cryptocurrencies are complex and speculative, and it’s essential that you’re fully aware of the risks involved before purchasing or holding any cryptocurrency. If you’re thinking of buying ZCoin, make sure you consider the following factors first:
- Market competition. Zcoin is far from the only company that offers a privacy coin. Monero, Zcash, Komodo, Nav Coin, Verge, PIVX and Dash are just some of the competitors offering coins designed to ensure private transactions, so you’ll need to consider the strengths and weaknesses of Zcoin relative to the competition to help you decide whether Zcoin is worth buying.
- Demand. The sheer number of cryptocurrencies claiming to offer anonymous transactions certainly indicates that privacy is an important consideration for a lot of cryptocurrency users. However, as the privacy coin sector is highly competitive, this could impact the level of demand for XZC and other similar cryptocurrencies.
- Supply. The total supply of Zcoin is 21.4 million XZC, with a circulating supply of less than 4 million at the time of writing.
- Roadmap. You’ll need to consider Zcoin’s scheduled future developments to get an idea of its potential for growth, and you’ll find some of these details in the Roadmap section on the company’s website. You can also find information about Zcoin’s upcoming and ongoing projects through the Zcoin Reddit and other social media channels.