In news out this morning; Zcash, Litecoin, and Bitcoin Cash will all be added to the Gemini exchange.

The news of additions to the Gemini exchange is not all that surprising, but it is surprising in who they decided to add.

Particularly that first coin mentioned, Zcash.

Zcash is heralded as a privacy focused coin.

Unlike bitcoin and ether, which are only partially anonymous, Zcash has the ability of going fully anon.

A few years ago that wouldn't be that big of a deal, but lately regulators have really been cracking down on anonymous coins, especially on the exchanges.

For a regulated exchange like Gemini to add Zcash at this point is very interesting to say the least.

For some context, exchanges in Japan, for example, are working on getting the anonymous coins removed from their regulated exchanges.

More about that can be found here:

https://steemit.com/cryptocurrency/@jrcornel/japanese-regulators-set-new-standards-for-local-crypto-exchanges

Why would they choose to add Zcash among the current regulatory uncertainty?

That I cannot say for sure, but there are some clues below as to why they chose these specific coins.

(Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zcash)

Some specifics on the inclusions:

Zcash is expected to be officially added Saturday, May 19th at 9:30 am EDT while it is not yet clear when the other 2 coins will officially be added.

You may be wondering why they chose these 3 coins...

The 3 coins being added by Gemini are all derived from bitcoin. The Winklevoss's lovingly refer to these types of coins as coming from the "Nakamoto Family Tree."

(Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/michaeldelcastillo/2018/05/14/winklevoss-brothers-bitcoin-exchange-adds-zcash/#41d8e9296b98)

I think that probably gives us the best clue as to why these coins were chosen. They are some of the least likely to be labeled as securities since they were derived from the same original open sourced code as bitcoin.

Bitcoin has already been stated by regulators to be the farthest away from being a security on the security/currency spectrum.

How is Zcash considered to be anonymous?

Zcash currently has two ways of operating when doing a transaction.

It can be used using shielded and unshielded addresses. The unshielded address transactions offer a lower level of anonymity and is much closer to what bitcoin and ether do.

Shielded address transactions provide the user complete anonymity.

Gemini says that at launch time Zcash will only have support for deposits from shielded and unshielded addresses, while withdrawals will only be available using unshielded addresses.

That makes a bit more sense.

Although they did state later on that they hope to have support for shielded address withdrawals at a later date.

I will believe that when I see it.

Oh and one more thing...

Consensus 2018 starts today and it seems to be having a nice effect on prices already:

(Source: https://coinmarketcap.com/)

This coming even though the St. Louis Fed Chief dashed a bit of cold water on the space.

Steem is one of the out-performers up around 5% on the day.

Stay informed my friends.

Image Source:

https://unhashed.com/exchange-review/gemini/

Follow me: @jrcornel