In my previous article about Horizen, you were introduced to the vast array of different things that they offered to various demographics. Another thing that this project does a bit differently than most is that instead of producing a whitepaper that was the end-all to the platform's structure they also have an updated application platform built in to be utilized in certain situations of expansion.
For example, the new collaboration of Horizen and Celsius Network utilizes ZENDOO from Horizen. This technology is unique in that is allows sidechains off of the Horizen blockchain enabling advanced blockchain scalability. Not only does this protocol allow the development of fully functional sidechains that can use the zk-SNARK techniques that provide anonymous transactions on chain. According to Horizens ZENDOO application ledger:
“Sidechains are an appealing innovation for enhancing existing blockchain systems. It enables blockchain scalability and extensibility. We believe that such value of sidechains is underestimated, and we seek to develop this area. This paper introduces Zendoo, a universal construction for Bitcoin-like blockchain systems. The paper also provides a specific sidechain construction, Latus, that leverages zk-SNARK techniques to establish decentralized and verifiable cross-chain transfers. Both constructions enable the creation and communication with different sidechains without knowing their internal structure.”
Other unique features that Horizen implemented for other developers is the ability to not only build fully decentralized sidechains but to also allows the building of fully decentralized applications that enable the Horizen network to grow outwards with little hindrance. The entire ecosystem that is built utilizing Horizen continues to grow each day. Furthermore, when we mention decentralization we cannot imagine another project that has succeeded so well in its efforts for decentralization the blockchain currently has the largest network of nodes and masternodes. For a project as small as Horizen seems to be this is a monstrous feat that not only separates them from all the others but enables an extremely fast blockchain with incredible advancement potential.
While I have only discussed small portions of the many different things Horizen has running there is still much to be discovered. Having already covered the first fully decentralized sidechain solution ZENDOO, the next plausible thing would be to dive a little deeper into the largest node network on a blockchain. To participate in securing the Horizen network users must stake their ZEN in an amount no less than 42 and no more the 500 per node. This ZEN must be held inside the native Sphere wallet, and in there you will have the ability to host your own Horizen Node. While staking your ZEN and securing the network you get rewarded roughly $3-4 a month in ZEN if you are running a standard node and $30-40 a month in ZEN if you decide to run a master node with 500 ZEN.
A couple other quite neat things that Horizen offers through its project is the Horizen academy that couldn’t of said what they do better than themselves:
“We have created the Horizen Academy for the central purpose of sharing our knowledge and passion for blockchain technology and cryptocurrency with everyone - no matter their skill level. Through education, Horizen wants to contribute to the widespread adoption of this important technology. Begin exploring our educational articles now!” This is excellent if you ask me, for a multitude of reasons but the one being the most important is the ability for anyone to learn about blockchain technology through Horizen. This would have been huge when I was first learning about all this crypto stuff and it took a long time to find some light inside of that rabbit hole. With the academy, you get to learn about the history, the way the privacy tech works, and a rundown on all things Horizen! But not to worry for all you not so tech-savvy people out there, within the academy they offer an “explain it to me like I'm 5” button which should really help get you on your way!
Thank you for taking the time to read my article! I look forward to the next in-depth article on Horizen!
If you have any questions or suggestions for me, please do not hesitate to ask in the comments!
~ Trever Russell
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This post is published for Cryptowriter in association with Voice.
