There seems to be a bit of buzz currently in the altcoin community about sidechain-as-a-service platform Horizen.
With a seed funding round recently completed—with Horizen raising twice the amount sought at $4 million total with investments from Digital Currency Group and Liberty City Ventures—the altcoin is trading at the time of the writing of this article at $7.39.
With a return-on-investment (from the time of launch) of –31.28 percent, the coin has failed to hold its value against its initial offering price but is currently gaining—offering an opportunity for those wishing to jump into the Horizen crave now.
Horizen—formerly Zencash—was launched in 2017 with no pre-mine and no ICO. The privacy-mined altcoin—which features as optional zk-SNARK privacy feature—allows users to create their own blockchain options that rely on its own digital footprint. This allows users to create applications like private chat and fully private web browsers, where user data would be provisioned only to the application’s sidechain.
With the company claiming to work on a software development kit that would allow developers to create “an unbounded set of applications, products, and services on top of the Horizen technology platform which is a truly decentralized side-chain based system powered by Horizen’s globally distributed multi-tier node network,” there is excitement that Horizen could redefine the private blockchain market.
“We have seen considerable demand from customers and businesses for custom blockchain solutions that are not expensive and time-consuming to build,” said Horizen Labs CEO Robert Viglione.
If you want to get on the Horizen bandwagon, here’s how you can buy and mine Horizen.
Buying Horizen
Horizen is available through several exchanges, including Binance, Huobi, OKEx, Bittrex, UPBit, Cryptopia, and Coinmonkey. For this example, we will be using Binance.
Setting Up a Horizen-Compatible Wallet:
While Horizen can be used on third-party wallets like Coinomi, the fact that Horizen is not ERC20-based or based on the bitcoin implementation means that it may be best to use the official wallet for this coin. Avoid using the beta wallet, as testing by BMJ shows it to be unstable and bug-ridden.
- Start by downloading the Lite version of the Horizen client. Install and open the app.
- Create a username and a password. Confirm the password. Click “Create Wallet.”
- Log in with your newly-created credentials.
- Click “Get a New Address.” Read the pop-up and click “I understand.”
- Enter a name for the wallet and mark if you want it to be transparent. Click “Create.”
- Select the newly-created wallet in the address menu to the left. Click the green down arrow. Write down the address in the “To:” field. This is your public key.
Buying from Binance
With your key in hand, you can now buy your Horizen.
- Go to www.binance.com. Log-in to your account or register.
- Click on “Exchange”–>”Basic.”
- You will need to trade bitcoin for Horizen. There are several tutorials on this site on how to buy bitcoin with fiat. Under “Funds,” click “Deposit.”
- Select bitcoin in the drop-down menu. Using the deposit address, transfer the bitcoin you wish to trade from your bitcoin wallet. You can also buy bitcoin from fiat on Binance.
- Go back to “Exchange”–>”Basic.” In the right upper menu, select the trading pair “ZEN/BTC.” Use the “Buy ZEN” box to complete the trade.
- Once the trade is confirmed, go to “Funds”–>”Withdrawals.” Select “ZEN.” Enter your Horizen wallet address. Enter the amount of Horizen you wish to withdrawal and hit “Submit.” Wait for the confirmation.
Mining Horizen
Before you move to mining Horizen, you should consider if it is worth it to do so. Horizen inherited Zencash’s blockchain, so its mining difficulty is quite high. It is estimated that for an eight-GPU mining rig, the expected daily mining gross is less than $10, making Horizen a less than attractive mining opportunity.
Mining is technically challenging and differs depending on your mining setup. The mining pool f2pool has created a tutorial here that works well to walk you through mining with that particular pool. Other pools may require slightly different steps, but most pools are fairly similar in concept. If you choose to mine Horizen as part of a mining pool, follow the directions provided by the mining pool of your choice. It is strongly advised that you join a mining pool when mining Horizen, as Zencash was subjected to a 51 percent attack in the past.
Stay aware of what is happening in the altcoin world. Subscribe to the Bitcoin Market Journal newsletter today.
