Anonymity is very important to a lot of cryptocurrency users. That is rather strange, considering hardly any of the popular cryptocurrencies provide anonymity features as of right now. Ethereum Classic may soon see a drastic change though, thanks to the ECIP-1025 proposal. If this proposal is accepted and activated on the network, ETC users will enjoy a certain degree of anonymity moving forward.
ECIP-1025 Can be a Major Change for Ethereum Classic
It is evident a lot of cryptocurrencies could benefit from anonymity features, even though not everyone may be looking for such improvements right now. More specifically, opt-in anonymous features can be quite beneficial to any major cryptocurrency out there right now. It is doubtful we will see such a feature in Bitcoin or Litecoin soon, even though other currencies may see major changes in this regard.
More specifically, there is an Ethereum Classic Improvement Proposal which looks to introduce zk-SNARK verification. This proposal is known as ECIP-1025, and is quite interesting to take note of. It allows for a certain degree of anonymity while using the Ethereum Classic network. Some people may recall the Ethereum developers are looking to integrate similar features moving forward.
It is evident some people are not too keen on how Ethereum’s Metropolis hard fork will introduce changes. To be more precise, the improvement proposals look to make Ethereum better, even though the changes are rather complicated. Additionally, they may not benefit the entire network, which makes these changes far less appealing than they should be. More progress can be made where Ethereum Classic is concerned, as it is the only immutable Ethereum blockchain in existence.
Sorpaas, the person responsible for the ECIP-1025 proposal, feels now is a good time to add three precompiled contracts to Ethereum Classic. These contracts allow for zk-SNARK verification, which can provide additional layers of anonymity to all users in the process. Executing anonymous transactions on the Ethereum Classic blockchain has been impossible so far, yet this “small” change could make it become a reality in an uncomplicated manner.
Introducing mixer smart contracts with zk-SNARK verification is quite an interesting proposal, to say the least. It takes three “primitive” operations to perform this verification, which makes it rather straightforward to integrate. More importantly, these changes can be introduced without using a network hard fork. It is evident some people see a hard fork as a go-to solution, whereas other developers feel it should be avoided at all costs.
So far, the Ethereum Classic community seems to be quite intrigued by ECIP-1025. Whether or not it will be merged into the main branch of ETC development, remains to be seen. Increased privacy and anonymity is not necessarily a bad thing. In fact, it would put Ethereum Classic on par with Bitcoin, Ethereum, and ZCash combined, minus the ICO part, according to Barry Silbert. It will be quite interesting to keep an eye on this proposal, that much is certain.
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