United StatesResearchers propose Zcash-style private payments for Bitcoin without a fork.
Bitcoin’s public ledger exposes every payment, and shielded notes would hide sender, recipient and amount.
Spending a note publishes a used marker and a proof that the sender owned the funds and created none.
Critics cite visible fees, higher transaction costs and reliance on a trusted cryptographic setup.
The research is preliminary, with no launch date and no mechanism yet for depositing and withdrawing bitcoin.
How each outlet framed it
- CoinDesk
- describes technical design (encrypted notes, zero-knowledge proofs) adapted from Zcash; notes fee/cost critiques
Sources: CoinDesk