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Zcash readies for Sapling hard fork, releases software upgrade

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Peter Terlato
Posted: 17 August 2018 3:40 pm
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All Zcash users and miners have been advised to upgrade to this latest version as soon as possible.

Zcash, a prominent privacy coin, is prepping for the release of its Sapling hard fork, expected in late October. In anticipation of this event, the cryptocurrency company liberated a new version of its software platform.

Zcash version 2.0.0 was made public Thursday, according to the latest blog post on the company’s website.

“The first block of Sapling will be block 419200, which is expected to be mined on the 28th of October 2018, the second anniversary of Zcash’s official launch,” Zcash engineer Sean Bowe said as part of the announcement.

All Zcash users and miners have been advised to upgrade to this latest version as soon as possible. You can learn more about the Sapling network upgrade in past blog posts or by visiting the network upgrades page.

In about a week, Sapling will activate on the company’s testnet at block 280000. This isn’t the first time that the hard fork has been applied to the testnet but since then changes have been made to the consensus rules.

The software upgrade also provides “experimental support” for Sapling remote procedure calls (RPC). This executes code in a different address, commonly another computer. Full support will appear in version 2.0.1.

The latest version also corrects a bug, replacing peer banning with behavior to ignore invalid transactions.

Zcash is a fork from the original bitcoin source code and claims to fully protect the privacy of transactions as it unlinks coins from their history on the blockchain. It’s that separation that has some saying Zcash is an attractive proposition for those involved in money laundering and other illegal financial transactions.

On the other hand, its strong privacy protections, coupled with acceptance by regulators and listings on major exchanges, have helped drive the cryptocurrency’s value up by over 50% in just a few hours a few months back.

Zcash’s value rose substantially in May after the ZEC/USD pair was officially listed on the Gemini exchange.

Disclaimer: This information should not be interpreted as an endorsement of cryptocurrency or any specific provider, service or offering. It is not a recommendation to trade. Cryptocurrencies are speculative, complex and involve significant risks – they are highly volatile and sensitive to secondary activity. Performance is unpredictable and past performance is no guarantee of future performance. Consider your own circumstances, and obtain your own advice, before relying on this information. You should also verify the nature of any product or service (including its legal status and relevant regulatory requirements) and consult the relevant Regulators' websites before making any decision. Finder, or the author, may have holdings in the cryptocurrencies discussed.

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