Horizen announced the mainnet release of their cross-chain protocol, Zendoo. It comes amidst a string of positive developments for Horizen. The zero-knowledge-enabled blockchain platform, Horizen provides tools for developers to custom build private or public blockchains.
Zendoo is a unique interoperability protocol and scaling solution. It fosters an ecosystem of independent blockchains and dapps for real-world use cases. Using Zendoo, developers can build custom zk-SNARK-enabled blockchains that deliver massive throughput without compromising decentralization.
First a quick recap on Horizen, the zero-knowledge network of blockchains powered by the largest node system, Horizen offers best-in-class tools for developers to custom-build private or public blockchains with a level of flexibility unmatched by others.
Developers have the freedom to fully customize their blockchains, including consensus type, speed, privacy, and crypto-economies. Blockchains built on Horizen produce massive throughput without compromising decentralization.
Mass Adoption on the Horizen
Currently, blockchains have onboarded millions of users, but their growth has come at the cost of security and decentralization. With every batch of new wallet addresses comes an increasingly greater risk of nodes going offline. Smart contracts are sadly often points of failure, and gas fees can skyrocket to unsuitable levels for everyday users.
To Horizen, these challenges related to fees and scaling are overcome by their network of blockchains that emphasizes decentralization and privacy as core features of the Horizen ecosystem of independent yet interconnected blockchains.
“Zendoo pushes the boundaries of what is possible for decentralized networks by introducing new levels of flexibility and scalability not yet seen in our industry. This enables more transparent and secure networks for storing and exchanging valuable data or assets while reducing the costs and settlement times between transactions,” Rob Viglione, Co-founder & Team Lead of Horizen.
But what can Zendoo do?
Zendoo is the culmination of years of hard work to redefine what it means to achieve blockchain scalability and decentralization. With Zendoo, developers can choose consensus, privacy, speed, and customize crypto-economies of their blockchain.
“Zendoo unleashes the potential of blockchains to scale via the creation of multiple parallel networks that operate independently and can be customized for speed, privacy preservation, and consensus. These features are essential for building a boundless crypto-economy that is inclusive to all. ” Alberto Garoffolo, Horizen’s Engineering Director.
Horizen has already attracted big names in blockchain. Celsius Network, Dash, IOTA, HeroEngine, GameStation, and many others are already building on Horizen.
Zendoo enables developers to custom-build private or public blockchains. These creations solve today’s real-world challenges with enough flexibility to be able to capture tomorrow’s opportunities. In summary, Zendoo-based blockchains leverage the following ecosystem benefits in their design:
- Permissionless and decentralized
- Fully customizable with configurable crypto-economy
- Auditable with zk-SNARK enhanced privacy features
The backbone of the zero-knowledge network of blockchains is the highly secure and decentralized Horizen public mainchain. It’s fueled by Horizen’s native cryptocurrency, ZEN, and powered by the largest node infrastructure consisting of more than 47,000 nodes. An improved proof-of-work consensus mechanism secures The Horizen mainchain. Furthermore, the system is strongly protected against 51% attacks.
A Trail Blaze-ing SDK
Blaze is Horizen’s answer to how developers and traditional companies can leverage blockchain technology to improve their businesses. It’s an all-in-one SDK that enables developers to launch a high-speed blockchain on the Horizen network and achieve high transaction throughput. Horizen’s Blaze SDK will be available in the next few days.
In addition, Horizen will also release their Latus SDK, a permissionless SDK that enables fully decentralized blockchains. An EVM integration for Ethereum smart contract compatibility will follow. Both should launch in 2022.
The Horizen community is celebrating the biggest milestone in the project’s history through a live virtual event with a giveaway of ZEN. The party invited the Horizen team and industry leaders as guest speakers. The event will live stream on December 3rd.
Keen to learn more about Horizen? Click here for more Horizen information. Alternatively, check out their website, Twitter, and Discord.
