Zano (blockchain platform)

Zano is an open-source cryptocurrency and privacy-focused blockchain ecosystem. It serves as a foundation for confidential assets and decentralized applications (dApps).^[1][2]

Zano
Original author(s)	Andrey Sabelnikov, Pavel Nikienkov
Written in	C++
Operating system	Windows, Unix-like, OS X
Type	Cryptocurrency, anonymity
License	MIT License
Website	zano.org

History

Between 2012 and 2014, Sabelnikov, along with Nicolas van Saberhagen, developed CryptoNote (also known as Bytecoin), the first privacy-coin protocol,^[3] which later became the foundation for other cryptocurrencies, including Zano, Monero, MobileCoin and Safex Cash.^{[4][1][5][6][7][8]}

After the launch of Bytecoin, Sabelnikov left the project and focused on improving the original CryptoNote protocol, and in 2014 he launched Boolberry.^[9] Building on the lessons learned from Boolberry, new work began in 2015 which later became Zano refining the protocol's consensus layer from pure PoW to a hybrid PoW/PoS.^[10][11] In 2018, Andrey Sabelnikov teamed up with Pavel Nikienkov to co-found the project and launch its mainnet in mid-2019.^[12][13][14]

In March 2024, Zano implemented the Zarcanum hard fork at block height 2,555,000.^[15] Introducing Confidential Assets that enable the creation of privacy tokens on the Zano blockchain, transitioning Zano from a single-asset blockchain to a multi-asset decentralized ecosystem.^{[16][17][18][19]} The Zarcanum hard fork introduced a pioneering Proof-of-Stake (PoS) consensus mechanism that incorporates hidden transaction amounts, which ensures that the exact number of coins being staked remains concealed.^[20]

Overview

Zano's hybrid consensus mechanism combines Proof of Work (PoW) and Proof of Stake (PoS) for optimal security and decentralization. PoW ensures network integrity by leveraging GPU's, while PoS incentivizes a more effective alignment between capital investment and network security.^[10][11] This approach mitigates risks like the "Nothing at Stake" problem, making attacks more costly and the blockchain more resilient.^[10][11]

Transactions are conducted using d/v-CLSAG Ring Signatures and Stealth Addresses, which obfuscate sender and receiver information, making all transactions on the network private by default. This ensures that transaction amounts, balances, sender and receiver identities, asset types, and transaction histories remain untraceable.^[20][10] The way transaction data is stored on the blockchain only allows access by parties who authorized the transactions; none of the private data is ever publicly published.^[10] Bulletproofs+ technology that is used in Zano transactions enables the concealment of the amount of coins transferred in a transaction. It employs a secure cryptographic scheme with a set of proofs that are both performance- and size-efficient. These proofs verify that the sum and type of inputs match those of the outputs without revealing the actual amounts involved in the transaction.^[18][21]

Zano developed an extension to the Ring Confidential Transactions scheme that enables the transfer of multiple asset types (Confidential Assets) within a single transaction, while concealing both the output amounts and asset types, making it impossible for third-party observers to determine whether a transaction involves the native coin or a synthesized token.^[20]