Horizen
Horizen is a blockchain ecosystem that focuses on privacy and scalability using side chains. The platform gives companies and developers the ability to build their own decentralized applications and public or private blockchains on its distributed network.
The project's side chain solution is Zendoo, a verified cross-chain transfer protocol. A zero-knowledge proof protocol (zk-SNARK) is also included in the project to guarantee safe communication with the side chains.
The network employs zero-knowledge proofs, a cryptographic technique that enables transactions to be passed without disclosing who the transaction involves, enabling users to utilize the system and its native ZEN currency secretly. The ultimate goal is to develop highly private smart contracts, which are computer programs that run automatically when specific circumstances are fulfilled.
Horizen was launched in May 2017 by Robert Viglione and Rolf Versluis. The Horizen project is managed by the Zen Blockchain Foundation, a non-profit organization responsible for managing the main blockchain development team. Additionally, the two co-founders worked with Jane Lippencott, a cryptocurrency venture capitalist, on the initial Whitepaper.
Rob Viglione is the CEO of Horizen Labs presently. Additionally, he co-founded and serves as president of the Zen Blockchain Foundation. The Executive Advisor of Horizen is Rolf Versluis.
The Horizen platform has never conducted an ICO (ICO). However, Grayscale Investments, a company that handles cryptocurrency investment funds, has developed a brand-new fund that is committed to Horizen. Grayscale acquired a lot of ZEN tokens for $6.3 million for their Horizen Trust in 2018.
Horizon was built to address the concerns of interoperability and scalability, both of which have affected the blockchain industry for years and must be done in order to go further. Horizen is highly recognized in the cryptocurrency community for creating and providing zero-knowledge-based blockchain technology and for creating one of the first scaling solutions of this nature. Its blockchain network offers a unique side chain technology that enables developers to build their own scalable blockchains and handle tens of thousands of transactions per second. Blockchain interoperability is made possible through Horizen's Zendoo protocol, which makes use of SNARK verification. The protocol allows the project to give total flexibility in terms of speed, consensus, side chain type, and privacy. The network can handle up to 10,000 side chains and has a throughput capacity of 10 million transactions per second, which is close to the peak of crypto scalability and interoperability.
Horizen states that it makes use of its huge and widely dispersed node system to raise the scalability, stability, security, and speed of its network. The different nodes with their specifications are:
· Regular Full Nodes: All public blockchains require the involvement of full nodes in order to validate or verify transactions. These daily full nodes on Horizen often function as wallets running instances of the platform's core software and hold the most recent copy of the blockchain.
· Secure Nodes: There are around 41k active Secure Nodes. These nodes, as the name indicates, provide security to the Horizen network through decentralization and end-to-end encryption.
· Super Nodes: There are around 3.7k active Super Nodes on the network. These nodes improve the network and enable Horizen to run a side chain platform.
ZEN is utilized as the Horizen network's native currency. Transactions on Horizen can either be open or hidden. Shielded transactions work with secret addresses and transaction amounts whereas transparent transactions function similarly to Bitcoin with public addresses and transaction amounts. Shielded transaction users have the option to selectively provide transaction metadata for regulatory compliance or auditing purposes. ZEN is the energy source for side chains and is utilized as a store of value, network fees, and payment method.
| DATE | NEWS/EVENTS | IMPACT |
| 07/05/2022 | TerraUSD and LUNA both collapsed and as a result, a number of crypto platforms folded in the aftermath | -46% Decrease |
| 14/09/2021 | Coinbase has announced the listing of the cryptocurrency Horizen | +28% Increase |
| 22/04/2021 | Grayscale has added large numbers of altcoins that include horizen (ZEN) and livepeer (LPT) | +26% Increase |
Horizen, formerly known as ZenCash, is a decentralized and scalable platform that focuses on giving companies and developers an efficient and cost-effective means to build their own blockchains and dApps. The project depends on Zendoo, a side chain protocol it uses to build multiple blockchains. These independent blockchains enhance the functionality of the main chain without affecting speed and reliability, enabling the fast development of low-cost blockchains and dApps. Additionally, the project makes use of zk-SNARK, a form of zero-proof cryptography that increases privacy and security, and the largest node network in the sector for transaction verification. The project has potential since it is backed by Grayscale Investments, a reputable organization for investing in digital currencies.
