Zcash launches Zakura 1.0.0 to speed privacy node startup under two minutes

The new full node software adds pruning, snapshot synchronization and zcashd compatibility as the project targets 50,000 transactions per second.

ZEC

Summary

Zcash has released Zakura 1.0.0, a new full node software package built to improve the processing capacity of privacy transactions. Refactored from Zebra, the client includes pruning (discarding unneeded historical data), snapshot synchronization (bootstrapping from a saved network state) and a compatibility mode with the legacy zcashd software. The changes are intended to cut startup time for new nodes to less than two minutes. The effort is led by Zcash zero-knowledge cryptography founding member Sean Bowe and Valar Group head Dev Ojha, and is positioned as groundwork for scaling Zcash transaction throughput to 50,000 transactions per second, a level the project says would be comparable to Visa and Mastercard.

Terms & Concepts
  • full node: Software that independently validates and stores network data.
  • pruning: Removing unneeded historical data to reduce storage needs.
  • snapshot synchronization: Syncing from a saved network state instead of full history.