Zano’s Big Update Signals Bright Future for Crypto Privacy

Zano capped off 2024 with a remarkable performance, exceeding expectations and cementing its place as a standout in the cryptocurrency space. The Zarcanum hard fork, a pivotal upgrade, sparked significant growth within its ecosystem. Now, with a massive update recently shared by the team, Zano is setting its sights on an ambitious future.

The vision driving Zano forward is clear. It’s not just a cryptocurrency but a comprehensive layer-1 ecosystem built on open-source principles, offering enterprise-grade privacy, security, and scalability. This blockchain serves as a foundation for confidential assets and decentralized applications, appealing to developers and users.

With key features like Zarcanum’s Proof of Stake with hidden amounts already implemented, the focus now shifts to refining the user experience. The team aims to make Zano the go-to platform for privacy-first solutions by equipping developers with a robust set of tools and attracting new projects to its ecosystem.

Strengthening the Core and Expanding Possibilities

Zano’s roadmap features key technical upgrades, beginning with a consensus improvement led by developer Andrey Sabelnikov, aka Crypto_Zoidberg. This enhances security by addressing the balance between Proof of Stake and Proof of Work, raising the cost of potential attacks. After the sixth hard fork, the team will either reduce Proof of Stake block confirmations for faster asset respending or lower block rewards to curb inflation, with the community deciding the path forward. To tackle rising transaction costs—up from $0.02 to $0.18 as $ZANO’s value climbed from $2 to $18—a dynamic fee system will adjust fees based on network activity, keeping the blockchain affordable and secure against spam.

Community governance will empower users through on-chain voting linked to staking power, debuting with the Zano Grants Program to shape grant decisions and decentralize control. An alias auction platform will also launch, enabling trading of premium aliases under five characters, with proceeds funding marketing efforts. Zano is refining peer-to-peer trading by rebranding Escrow Contracts as Escrow Trades, a user-friendly decentralized app built on multi-signature tech. Paired with the Zano Trade platform, it will support trading any currency, including fiat, using over-collateralized trades to ensure fairness without third-party mediators.

Wallet redesigns with intuitive interfaces are slated for late 2025, aiming to rival top layer-1 ecosystems. Full Chain Membership Proofs, a major privacy advancement, are in development, though adapting them to Zano’s codebase poses challenges. The team is also enhancing the ecosystem with bug fixes, better documentation, and a bug bounty program on Immunefi to bolster security. The Zano Grants Program will fund developer projects, while a crowdfunding platform, possibly called Zano Genesis, will encourage community-driven innovation.

Early projects like Confidential Layer, Kaurma, Obscura, and Bandit City showcase Zano’s potential, offering bridging solutions, stablecoins, and private NFTs. Wallet integrations with Cake Wallet, Bitcoin.com, and NoOnes, plus hardware wallet talks, will broaden access. Payment processors and exchange listings will boost liquidity.

Marketing will amplify these efforts through campaigns, educational content, a revamped website with an AI assistant, and appearances at events like ETHDam and MoneroTopia, positioning Zano for a transformative 2025.