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The Fork

Important Note: The Ycash/Zcash chain fork successfully took place on July 18, 2019. This page is maintained here for historical purposes.

Introduction

The Ycash/Zcash fork occurred at block height 570,000 of the Zcash blockchain, approximately July 18, 2019).

This page focuses on the mechanics of the fork. For the motivations behind the fork, see "Announcing Ycash, The First “Friendly Fork” of the Zcash Blockchain" (2019-04-11).

Key Changes at Launch

At launch, Ycash implements the following key changes to Zcash:

  1. The mining algorithm is changed from Equihash(200,9) to Equihash(192,7).

  2. The Zcash Founders Reward rate is reduced from 20% to a perpetual 5%, with the entirety going to the nonprofit Ycash Foundation. The Zcash Founders Reward is renamed the Ycash Development Fund.

  3. In order to eliminate confusion between Ycash and Zcash going forward, the address formats are changed (as described in the next section).

Ycash Address Formats

Ycash uses different address formats than Zcash, making it impossible to accidentally send Zcash to a Ycash address (or Ycash to a Zcash address).

  1. Transparent addresses start with "s1" instead of "t1".

  2. Multisig addresses start with "s3" instead of "t3".

  3. Shielded sprout addresses start with "yc" instead of "zc".

  4. Shield sapling addresses start with "ys" instead of "zs".

Two-Way Replay Protection

Replay attacks involve an attacker using a publicly broadcasted transaction on one chain to perform an unauthorized transaction on another chain.

Ycash utilizes the two-way replay protection built in to Zcash's upgrade mechanism (first introduced in Zcash's Overwinter upgrade). Therefore, users and exchanges need not worry about replay attacks.

Wallets

Official Wallet of Ycash Foundation

YecWallet (Full node wallet for Mac, Linux, and Windows)

Third Party Wallets

Guarda Wallet (Multi-asset wallet for iPhone, Android, desktop, and the web). See announcement.

SafePay (Multi-asset mobile wallet for iPhone, Android, and the web)

Bitpie Wallet (Multi-asset mobile wallet for iPhone and Android). See announcement.

Atomic Wallet (Multi-asset wallet for Android and desktop) See announcement.

Cobo Wallet (Multi-asset mobile wallet for iPhone and Android). See announcement.

Accessing Your Ycash

Importing Zcash Private Keys into YecWallet

In YecWallet, click on the File menu and choose "Import private key". You'll be prompted to input your private keys, each private key on a separate line.

Exporting Zcash Private Keys from Zcash Wallets

Make sure that your Zcash wallet allows you to export private keys. (If not, you will not be able to access your Ycash.) Follow the instructions provided by your ZCash wallet.

If you are using ZecWallet, click on the File menu and choose "Export all private keys".

Hardware Wallets

No hardware wallet has announced native support for Ycash. For a discussion of possible options, see this discussion on Reddit.

Blockchain explorer

Bitfly's Ycash Blockchain Explorer

SafeTrade's Ycash Blockchain Explorer

Mining at Launch

Pools

For a complete list of Ycash pools see these well-maintained lists:

Mining Software

Several different GPU mining software packages support Equihash(192,7), including:

  • Gminer (Nvidia/AMD) (Linux/Windows) (mandatory 2% dev fee)

  • EWBF's Cuda Equihash Miner (Nvidia) (Linux/Windows) (optional dev fee, 2% by default)

  • miniZ (Nvidia) (Linux/Windows) (mandatory 2% dev fee)

  • Optiminer/Zero (Nvida 8GB/AMD 4GB and 8GB) (Linux/Windows) (mandatory 2.5% dev fee)

  • lolMiner (AMD) (Linux/Windows) (mandatory 1% dev fee)

(If this list is incomplete, contact info at ycash dot xyz and let us know.)

Exchanges

(For an up-to-date list of exchanges, see Exchanges.)