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The Zcoin privacy coin is rebranding to Firo

The privacy-focused project will rebrand on November 30 following the successful launch of its Lelantus testnet and new protocol model

The ZCoin (XZC)_ _privacy project is rebranding with a new name and ticker Firo (FIRO), effective from November 30. The rebranding coincides with the launch of the mainnet binaries for the project’s new Lelantus protocol.

Lelantus is designed to enable untraceable transactions. Untraceable, anonymous transactions are the objective of all privacy coins, however, each project is pursuing a slightly different path. Lelantus achieves this goal via a burn and redeem privacy mechanism that allows users to burn (destroy) coins, and then redeem them for brand new coins with no previous transaction history.

The result is an ability to make anonymous, cash-like transactions, as the new coins cannot be linked to any previous transaction. Zcoin developers say that Lelantus enables practical anonymity, similar to cash in a simple one-click interface, balancing privacy innovation with user simplicity.

Reuben Yap, the Zcoin Project Steward says the new name and branding is a truer representation of what Lelantus achieves. “Going from zero to Firo accurately describes Zcoin’s evolution away from its Zerocoin protocol origins,” he says. “This captures the essence of the burn and redeem privacy mechanism developed by our team, and signals a new era of practical yet powerful anonymity. The word Firo is succinct, easy to say and sounds like money, so it’s perfect for a cryptocurrency.”

Zcoin was founded in 2016 by computer developer Poramin Insom. In 2014, while completing a Masters in Security Informatics from Johns Hopkins University, Insom wrote a paper on implementing the Zerocoin protocol into a cryptocurrency. He was motivated by a desire to increase financial privacy and inclusive mining via an ASIC resistant proof of work cryptocurrency.

Zcoin cryptographers and developers eventually replaced Zerocoin with the Sigma protocol, which will now be replaced again with the next-generation Lelantus protocol.

“Lelantus pushes the boundaries of privacy with technology that offers very high practical anonymity while requiring no trusted setup, and an elegant cryptographic construction that uses only well-established cryptographic assumptions,” says Yap. “Private transactions have suffered from low privacy via small anonymity sets or required a degree of trust, something that is against the philosophy of public blockchains. Zcoin addresses both these issues.” He says the aim of Lelantus is to offer long-lasting privacy in the face of increasingly advanced blockchain analysis techniques.

When Lelantus officially launches its mainnet binaries on 30 November, Zcoin will transition to the new Firo brand. Lelantus will activate on mainnet in mid-January.


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