BitcoinZ (BTCZ)
Community-driven privacy coin launched September 2017 — fair start, no premine, zk-SNARKs
Overview
BitcoinZ (BTCZ) is a community-driven cryptocurrency launched on 9 September 2017. Unlike most entries on this historical forks page, BTCZ is not a UTXO snapshot fork of Bitcoin. It started with its own genesis block and is built on Zcash technology (zk-SNARKs for optional privacy) while emphasizing Bitcoin-inspired principles of decentralization and fairness.
The project was started by an anonymous developer and immediately handed to the community. Its founding principles stress no premine, no ICO, no developer tax, ASIC-resistant mining, and fully decentralized development.
Founding Principles
- 100% decentralized development (volunteer contributors)
- Zclassic spirit + Zcash core + Bitcoin fundamentals
- No premine, no ICO, no developer taxes
- Everyone should be able to mine (ASIC resistance)
- Immutable history — hard forks only for improvements, never to rewrite the past
- Fair proposal system and community equality
Key Features
- Optional privacy — Transparent (t-) addresses and shielded (z-) addresses using zk-SNARKs.
- ASIC-resistant PoW — Originally Equihash; later migrated to Zhash to stay GPU-friendly.
- Fair launch — No premine or founder allocation.
- Larger supply model — 21 billion BTCZ maximum (vs Bitcoin’s 21 million).
- Community governance — Development and direction driven by volunteers and community proposals.
- Ongoing upgrades — Including Sapling and later Canopy network upgrades inherited/adapted from the Zcash family.
Technical Snapshot
| Launch | 9 September 2017, genesis block #1 |
|---|---|
| Codebase origin | Zcash / Zclassic lineage |
| Privacy | zk-SNARKs (shielded z-addresses) |
| PoW (current emphasis) | Zhash (GPU-oriented, ASIC-resistant) |
| Max supply | 21,000,000,000 BTCZ |
| Block time / size (approx.) | ~2.5 minutes, larger blocks than early Bitcoin |
| Default ports | P2P 1989 · RPC 1979 |
| Address types | Transparent (t1…) and shielded (zs…) |
Relation to Bitcoin Forks
BitcoinZ appears on many 2017–2018 “Bitcoin fork” lists because of its name and the era in which it launched. Technically, however, it is a new blockchain that never shared UTXO history with Bitcoin. It does not give BTC holders free coins the way BCH, BTG, or BCD did.
It is included here for historical completeness among the wave of projects that used the Bitcoin name or branding during the 2017 fork explosion, while making the distinction clear.
Later Development
The project has continued under community stewardship for years. Notable later work includes algorithm adjustments (to maintain ASIC resistance), network upgrades in the Zcash family (Sapling, Canopy, etc.), light wallets such as BitcoinZ Blue, explorers, and ongoing node software releases. The official GitHub organization and community site remain active.