Buy Horizen (ZEN)

What is Horizen?

Horizen is a blockchain ecosystem that emphasises privacy, scalability, and real-world utility. It enables businesses and developers to create both public and private blockchains. The platform leverages zero-knowledge-enabled technology to enhance security and efficiency. Horizen aims to promote privacy as a human right and offers tools for building applications that maintain censorship-resistant publishing and data ownership.

How does Horizen work?

Horizen operates on a distributed blockchain architecture comprising a mainchain and multiple decoupled sidechains. The mainchain uses an Equihash Proof of Work (PoW) consensus mechanism, while the sidechains employ a modified Proof of Stake (PoS) system. Horizen supports smart contracts through its sidechain technology, providing the flexibility to build decentralised applications (dApps) with custom consensus mechanisms. The platform's Cross-Chain Transfer Protocol (CCTP) allows coin transfers between the main and sidechains, enhancing interoperability and scalability.

What are the potential use cases for Horizen?

Horizen offers diverse potential use cases, including:

• Developing decentralised applications (dApps) with custom consensus models.
• Enabling private, secure transactions using zero-knowledge proofs (zk-SNARKs).
• Facilitating cross-chain transfers and interoperability.
• Tokenising assets and creating new token standards.
• Implementing privacy-enhanced audit solutions, such as zkAudit.
• Deploying secure messaging and communication services like ZenChat.
• Building decentralised finance (DeFi) applications.
• Managing and tracking supply chains.

The platform's modular architecture allows for broad applications across sectors such as finance, real estate, healthcare, and gaming.

What is the history of Horizen?

Horizen was founded in 2017 as ZenCash by Rob Viglione and Rolf Versluis. It originated as a fork of ZClassic, which itself was a fork of ZCash, with the goal of creating a privacy-focused coin leveraging zk-SNARKs. Significant milestones in its history include:

• Launching ZenCash in May 2017 and subsequent rebranding to Horizen in August 2018.
• Introducing sidechain technology and releasing the Sidechain SDK.
• Expanding functionalities with releases such as ZenHelp and Sphere by Horizen.
• Establishing partnerships, such as with IOHK for research and development.

Horizen has evolved from a privacy-focused cryptocurrency to a multi-chain platform, enabling scalable blockchain solutions for various applications and services.