LitecoinZ is a fork of Zcash, which in turn is a fork of
Bitcoin. However, where
Zcash has diverged from Bitcoin's codebase and receives limited rebasing of new Bitcoin
features, LitecoinZ has been fully merged back into the Bitcoin codebase.
LitecoinZ uses the reference Bitcoin node, called Bitcoin Core, as the base code
for its node software and thus is completely interoperable with software designed
to integrate with Bitcoin. Users familiar with Bitcoin Core's graphical interface
will feel at home with LitecoinZ's.
LitecoinZ retains all of Zcash's powerful anonymizing features through the
use of shielded addresses also known as z-addresses. These addresses utilize
zk-SNARKs
zero knowledge proofs to anonymize the source, destination, and amount
of transactions between two shielded addresses. As is also the case with Zcash,
standard Bitcoin addresses are also available in LitecoinZ due to the high computational
requirements of shielded addresses.
Like its parent cryptocurrencies, LitecoinZ utilizes the concept of
proof of work
to ensure transactions are validated by trusted parties, also called
miners. LitecoinZ mining utilizes the Equihash 144,5 algorithm which is designed
to be run on consumer-available GPUs. Constraining LitecoinZ's mining to
GPUs is believed to democratize the ownership of the network.
