The Horizen blockchain is known for its secrecy. The network has employed zero-knowledge proofs to make its ZEN cryptocurrency untraceable and unmonitorable amongst its privacy-conscious users since its introduction as ZenCash. Horizen also maintains that all user interactions should be kept private. As a result, Horizen is working on smart contract privacy solutions, with the intention of becoming a decentralized platform for private messaging, publishing, and decentralized application (DApp) development.
What is Horizen (ZEN)?
Horizen is a network of blockchains with zero-knowledge features, backed by the industry’s most powerful node infrastructure. The Zendoo protocol, which leverages SNARK-verification and provides for complete flexibility in sidechain type, consensus, speed, and privacy, enables blockchain interoperability.
The network now supports up to 10,000 sidechains with a throughput limit of 10,000,000 TPS, and cryptographic verification of networked chains allows tremendous scalability.
Horizen is now a permissionless blockchain network, thanks to Zendoo. Developers may use a number of SDKs to deploy their blockchains inside the ecosystem. Blaze and Latus are the first SDKs to deploy blockchains using IOHK’s provably secure Ouroboros proof-of-stake technology.
Horizen’s sidechain technology, Zendoo, is one of a kind. Zendoo solves the blockchain’s fundamental scalability, versatility, and efficiency problems.
Zendoo enables developers and companies to quickly build their own blockchains or decentralized applications (dapps) on top of Horizen’s completely distributed and privacy-preserving network, with the ability to add custom logic and data to fulfill any requirements. Zendoo is the industry’s first completely decentralized and customizable sidechain protocol.
ZkAudit has a fantastic design. The release of ZkAudit is one of the most recent projects. Through a collaboration between Celsius and Horizen, this is the first and only completely decentralized and privacy-enabled audit (proof of reserve) blockchain that does not require any third-party validators.
Horizen’s native currency, ZEN, is a mineable PoW cryptocurrency that can be found on major crypto exchanges such as Bitunivex. ZEN is the Horizen blockchain’s main cryptocurrency, containing all of its privacy-focused properties.
T-Addresses and Z-Addresses are the two types of ZEN addresses.
T-Addresses are comparable to Bitcoin addresses in that anybody can access an account’s whole transaction history.
Shielded addresses are what Z-Addresses are renowned for. When two Z-Addresses deal with each other, the transactions are entirely secret, anonymous, and untraceable.
Horizen: roots and history
Horizen was founded by Rob Viglione and Rolf Versluis.
Dr. Rob Viglione is the co-founder and CEO of Horizen Labs, as well as the Zen Blockchain Foundation’s co-founder and team leader. He has a doctorate in finance, an MBA in finance and marketing, and a bachelor’s degree in physics and applied mathematics. Rob has also served as an adviser to some of the most ground-breaking blockchain initiatives throughout the world, like Aave, and has worked as a scientist in the space sector.
The Zen Blockchain Foundation’s co-founder and executive advisor is Rolf Versluis. He operates a mid-sized mining operation and is an experienced company entrepreneur in the IT industry.
Jane Lippencott was a co-author of the initial whitepaper and a member of the founding team. She was formerly an associate at Winklevoss Capital and is currently a partner at a16z Crypto, the digital asset subsidiary of venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz.
Jane is a member of All Rise’s 2021 VC Cohort, an adviser at Teller Finance, a mentor at the Open Web Collective, and a Celo and Katapult Accelerator mentor. She contributes to the website Nakamoto.com. She was a mentor at the Blockchain for Social Impact Coalition (BSIC), a mentor at dLab and an adviser at Unbounded Capital, a mentor at Techstars, and a member of the Cord Board of Directors.
How does Horizen work?
Horizen is well-known for its competence in blockchain technology based on zero-knowledge. Their team has made numerous achievements in the cryptography industry, including the publication of one of the first zero-knowledge-based scaling solutions and their zero-knowledge privacy tool library, Ginger-Lib.
Their blockchain network offers a special sidechain solution that enables developers to create their own scalable blockchains capable of supporting tens of thousands of transactions per second while retaining genuine decentralization over tens of thousands of nodes. Horizen also has a number of unique privacy options.
Horizen is a completely decentralized zero-knowledge blockchain ecosystem with customizable privacy features and tremendous scalability. Horizen includes Zendoo, a sidechain framework that allows hundreds of separate sidechains to communicate with one other and with the mainchain.
Network nodes verify blockchain transactions, which necessitates a considerable amount of processing power. As a result, most blockchain networks have a limit on how many transactions they can handle at any given moment. Horizen developers, on the other hand, may run over 10,000 different blockchains at the same time, processing up to 10 million transactions per second across all sidechains (an average TPS of 1,000 per chain). Horizen’s node network is one of the largest and most spread in the business, which helps explain why. This allows their network to be completely decentralized while yet retaining high transaction throughput.
Why choose Horizen?
Being a leader in the crypto realm is a difficult endeavor. Bitcoin has the largest market capitalization. In terms of active developers, Ethereum takes the lead.
Others assert that they are the fastest. Horizen, on the other hand, reigns supreme over the node count. Its enormous network of over 40,000 active nodes dwarfs Bitcoin and Ethereum, its nearest competitors in terms of node count.
The Horizen node network is “multi-tiered,” which means that not every node performs the same function.
Full nodes, like those on Ethereum or Bitcoin, hold a complete copy of the blockchain network’s transactions and data. Secure Nodes are complete nodes with unique encryption that protects communication between nodes and prevents spying when nodes communicate with one another—finally, Super Nodes, which are powerful Secure Nodes, host Horizen sidechains.
