Horizen

What is Horizen (ZEN)?

Horizen is a zero-knowledge-enabled ecosystem of blockchains supported by a large, decentralized, multi-tiered node infrastructure.

As a provider of best-in-class tools for developers to build private or public blockchains, Horizen offers complete design freedom while providing solutions to real-world challenges.

The project’s cross-chain protocol, Zendoo, lets developers take advantage of the Horizen proof-of-work (PoW) blockchain while allowing them to build their own auditable and privacy-preserving blockchains.

Formerly known as ZenCash, the project began as a privacy coin but rebranded to Horizen as it became far more than a simple privacy-based peer-to-peer currency.

When was Horizen Launched?

Horizen was originally launched on the 23rd of May 2017 as a fork of Zclassic, which itself was a fork of Zcash. All Zclassic holders before block height 110,000 received ZEN coins at a ratio of 1:1.

This airdrop-style launch was intended to preserve the Zclassic project while also bringing community support and an immediate network effect to Horizen, then known as ZenCash.

The ZenCash whitepaper stated: “We view Zclassic as a fundamentally pure open-source, all-volunteer cryptocurrency project, while Zen extends into a platform with internal funding to facilitate a broader set of communications, file-sharing, and economic activities.”

ZenCash had three main systems that it leveraged to set itself apart. ZenChat used a customized secure communications network to allow messaging between wallets, circumnavigated crypto-commerce blocking using domain fronting with ZenHide, and had an anonymous document publishing platform using IPFS called ZenPub.

Who are the Founders of Horizen?

Horizen was co-founded by a project team lead, Rob Viglione, and executive advisor Rolf Versluis.

Viglione is the CEO of Horizen Labs and co-founded the Zen Blockchain Foundation. He holds a PhD in Finance, an MBA in Finance and Marketing, and a Bachelor’s in Physics and Applied Mathematics. On top of that, he has been an advisor to Aave and HeroEngine, and also worked as a software project manager for the U.S. Air Force.

Versluis was formerly at Cisco and is a trained officer with the U.S. Submarine force. He has also worked with semiconductors, is an experienced IT business owner, and runs a mid-size cryptocurrency mining operation.

While no longer with the project, Jane Lippencott was also in one of the founding teams of Horizen back when it was known as ZenCash. Lippencott is now a partner at crypto hedge fund a16z, the digital asset unit of Andreessen Horowitz, and was formerly an associate at Winklevoss Capital.

How Does Horizen Work?

Horizen, as a platform, brings together multiple products to form a compelling service offering. One of these is ZenNodes, which is touted as the industry’s largest node network with a multi-tiered node system.

Composed of over 41,500 active nodes, this network improved Horizen’s reliability, security, and speed. The ZenNodes infrastructure supports the main public blockchain, with all side chains being more succinct.

The other major Horizen product is Zendoo, a zk-SNARK enabled verifiable cross-chain transfer protocol. Zendoo is decentralized and doesn’t rely on any 3rd party validators. Instead, it is a modular protocol, allowing developers the ability to build out a blockchain and customize every element, including consensus, speed, privacy, and crypto-economy.

This modularization permits massive scalability, application design freedom, and flexibility to change components over time, as long as interfaces conform to set standards.

Zendoo has two SDKs that cater to developers based on their project needs. Zendoo Latus is fully decentralized and features a throughput of 20,000 transactions per second globally. Zendoo Blaze compromises slightly on decentralization but increases throughput significantly, with up to 10 million TPS.

What makes Horizen Unique?

Thanks to zk-SNARK technology, the Horizen blockchain can verify sidechain transactions without knowing the underlying sidechain structure or relying on 3rd party validators.

This allows the Horizen blockchain to virtually verify any number of transactions occurring on the Zendoo blockchain networks in almost real-time. Scalability is thus enhanced thanks to massive throughput without compromising the decentralization of the network.

The ZEN cryptocurrency itself also offers not one but two types of addresses. T-Addresses are regular addresses for making public and transparent transactions, similar to Bitcoin. Z-Addresses, on the other hand, are shielded. Transactions between them are private and anonymous, leveraging zero-knowledge technology to obscure sender and recipient addresses along with the amount sent.

Note that any amounts sent from a Z-address to a T-address will be deshielded, and the value received will be visible on the blockchain. As a result, the sender’s address will remain shielded.

How is the Horizen Network Secured?

Horizen’s ZenNodes network has three types of nodes. Secure Nodes enable security and resilience with enhanced point-to-point encryption and decentralization. They require a minimum of 92% uptime as they maintain and propagate a full copy of the Horizen blockchain. They also require operators to stake 42 ZEN per node.

Super Nodes, meanwhile, bring major improvements to the ecosystem enabling a sidechain platform for an unlimited amount of blockchains and dApps. They also allow tracking and payment of Secure Nodes to be moved on-chain or in-protocol. These Super Nodes need 96% uptime, and operators have to stake 500 ZEN.

The third type of node on the system is called a Regular Full Node. These are typically wallets that run an instance of Horizen’s core software and hold an up-to-date copy of the blockchain. These regular nodes aren’t incentivized, but Super Nodes and Secure Nodes each earn 10% of the Horizen block reward.

This 20% contribution to nodes is matched by contributions to the project treasury. The remaining 60% go to Horizen miners since the blockchain itself is an ASIC-mineable proof-of-work network.

What is the Use of ZEN?

ZEN is peer-to-peer digital cash with built-in optional privacy features that allow users to control their digital footprint. However, it is also used for “staking,” in that operators of ZenNodes network nodes need to deposit a certain amount of ZEN to claim their rewards.

How Much ZEN is In Circulation?

ZEN has a circulating supply of over 13 million coins out of a total supply of 21 million. As previously mentioned, the initial supply of ZEN was airdropped to Zclassic holders when ZenCash forked.

How Do You Buy ZEN?

You can earn ZEN by running a Secure Node or Super Node, and while possible, mining it using ASICs may be a technologically complicated and expensive process for many.

The Horizen Community Hub features a captcha-powered faucet for free ZEN every day. To buy it in greater quantities, though, you’ll need an account at a cryptocurrency exchange. Luckily, ZEN is widely listed on most major cryptocurrency exchanges.

How Do You Store ZEN?

To store ZEN, you’ll need one of the ecosystem wallets. The Cobalt wallet was launched in 2022 and features an easy-to-use interface in Chrome Extension form. It even includes a built-in test token faucet. For a more full-featured desktop wallet, Sphere by Horizen is the official option.

Take a look at this page on the Horizen website for a full list of supported third-party wallets.

Is ZEN a Good Investment?

Public, transparent blockchains are considered by some to be the mortal enemies of Wall Street, and industries such as finance that need to operate in the shadows will likely never come to light.

However, Horizen’s ability to let enterprise developers easily create private blockchains may be one of the project’s key advantages. While most multi-billion dollar firms have the finances and in-house resources to develop their own private blockchains, many smaller companies can benefit from Zendoo SDKs.

ZEN’s use as a privacy-optional cryptocurrency gives it a leg up on many other cryptocurrencies as well. However, regulatory pressures and the drive towards CBDCs leave the future very much up in the air for privacy coins.