Horizen Crypto: A Smart Investment Decision?

Horizen (ZEN) is a privacy-focused cryptocurrency and blockchain network that aims to solve the scaling and security issues found in networks like Ethereum. Its core feature is privacy, and it uses zero-knowledge proofs to make its ZEN currency untraceable and unwatchable between users. Horizen combines proof-of-work (POW) with proof-of-stake (POS) consensus mechanisms, and has a large ecosystem of nodes for transaction execution and validation. Launched in 2017 as ZenCash, a fork of ZClassic, Horizen has since evolved and now provides Zendoo, a sidechain infrastructure that solves scalability issues such as slow transactions and high fees. As of September 2024, the price of Horizen is around $7-8, with a market cap of $108-127 million. While Horizen is a risky investment, it has maintained resilience in its value, and its current price is close to its launch price. There is potential for the price to surge, and it may be considered a promising long-term investment option.

Horizen's price predictions for 2025, 2030, 2040 and 2050

Horizen's Price Predictions for 2025, 2030, 2040, and 2050

Horizen (ZEN) is a privacy-based and scalable platform with an ecosystem supported by the largest node network in the industry. The platform focuses on providing businesses and developers with a fast and affordable way to create their own public or private blockchains.

2025

According to one source, Horizen's price could reach a maximum of $14.23 by the end of 2025. Another source predicts that the price of ZEN will reach a maximum of $15.64 in 2025. A third source predicts a maximum price of $12.57 in 2025.

2030

Horizen (ZEN) is anticipated to reach a maximum price of $85.12 by the year 2030. Another source predicts a maximum price of $31.44 in 2030.

2040

Horizen (ZEN) is forecasted to reach an average price of $3,861 by the end of 2040. Another source predicts a maximum price of $62.87 in 2040.

2050

In a bullish scenario, Horizen might surpass the $5,484 mark for 2050, showcasing potential upward momentum.

Horizen's use case and tokenomics

Horizen's Use Case

Horizen is a zero-knowledge-enabled network of blockchains powered by one of the largest node infrastructures in the industry. Horizen's blockchain network uses secure nodes that are TLS encrypted to enable secure inter-node communication. Horizen's native cryptocurrency, ZEN, is a mineable proof-of-work (PoW) coin that employs the Equihash algorithm.

Horizen's blockchain interoperability is enabled by the Zendoo protocol, which uses SNARK-verification and allows for complete flexibility in sidechain type, consensus, and speed. Horizen's blockchain network can support up to 10,000 sidechains with a throughput limit of 10,000,000 transactions per second (TPS). Horizen's node network is one of the largest and most distributed networks in the industry, enabling the network to be fully decentralised while maintaining high throughput for transactions across the network.

Horizen's use case is further expanded with the release of Horizen EON, an EVM-compatible smart contracting platform with several integrations in the DeFi, RWA, and NFT space. Horizen EON is a public proof-of-stake sidechain that allows developers to efficiently build and deploy dApps on the Horizen ecosystem, while also benefiting from the Ethereum ecosystem.

Horizen's Tokenomics

Horizen's native cryptocurrency, ZEN, is the governance and utility token for the Horizen ecosystem. ZEN will be the payment currency for staking and gas fees on Horizen 2.0, and it will continue to be the governance token for the decentralised Horizen 2.0 ecosystem. ZEN is an ASIC-mineable cryptocurrency that employs the Equihash algorithm. Block rewards are distributed as 60% to miners, 20% to the treasury, and 20% to nodes.

ZEN had a maximum supply of 21,000,000 coins, of which just over 14,468,625 were in circulation as of December 2023. ZEN can be staked to participate in Horizen's nearly 50,000 full node network.

Horizen's consensus system

Horizen's core product, Zendoo, provides a sidechain software development kit (SDK) that enables businesses and developers to create custom sidechains on top of the Horizen main chain. This means that each custom blockchain built on Horizen can have its own unique consensus mechanism.

Horizen's consensus-agnostic approach allows developers to create applications that aren't just blockchain-agnostic but also 'consensus agnostic'. This means that developers can choose between different consensus mechanisms without being restricted to a single blockchain.

Horizen's Zendoo sidechain SDK is similar to what Facebook's React Native has become for the development of web and mobile applications: a framework to build upon.

Horizen believes that as blockchains become more commonly adopted, the question of "what blockchain should I use?" will take a back seat to "what consensus mechanisms work best for my use case?".

Horizen's network is built to cater to all forms of consensus mechanisms. It empowers developers and entrepreneurs to push the boundaries of what is possible for blockchains and distributed ledger technologies through the creation of hybrid consensus solutions.

Horizen's Approach to Consensus

Horizen's approach to consensus is focused on solving the blockchain scalability trilemma, a term coined by Ethereum founder Vitalik Buterin. The trilemma describes the trade-off that developers make between scalability, decentralisation, and security when designing a blockchain.

A network with fewer nodes requires fewer validators to confirm transactions, resulting in faster transaction delivery. However, fewer nodes lead to more centralisation, making the network more fragile and vulnerable to failures.

Horizen's consensus-agnostic approach allows developers to choose the right consensus mechanism for their specific use case, ensuring perfect asymmetry between scalability, decentralisation, and security.

Popular Consensus Mechanisms

• Proof of Work (PoW): Miners contribute computing power to solve complex mathematical puzzles to produce new blocks and earn rewards.
• Proof of Stake (PoS): Validators stake their tokens into a smart contract to validate transactions. A randomised process determines which validators will produce the next block.
• Delegated Proof of Stake (DPoS): Users stake their tokens and vote for delegates who are in charge of creating new blocks under the PoS model.
• Proof of Authority (PoA): Validators stake their reputations instead of coins. This method is used primarily by private blockchains where identities are already verified.
• Practical Byzantine Fault Tolerance (pBFT): Blocks are validated by special "ordering" or "leader" nodes, which are regarded as final and true. This mechanism is designed for private consortium blockchains where members are partially trusted.
• Directed Acyclic Graph (DAG) 'Gossip Protocol': Nodes achieve consensus by broadcasting information to other nodes in a random manner until broad consensus is achieved about the state of the ledger.

Horizen's Consensus Mechanism

While Horizen does not specify which consensus mechanism its main chain uses, it does emphasise its commitment to empowering developers to work with various consensus mechanisms. Horizen's Zendoo sidechain SDK allows developers to create custom blockchains with unique consensus mechanisms, leveraging the most secure form of PoW used by the main chain.

Horizen's sidechain protocol

Zendoo is the first sidechain protocol on the market that is fully decentralized and customizable. It is designed to be compatible with the Horizen blockchain and can be used to develop secure and decentralized cross-chain transfers without requiring the mainchain nodes to verify the sidechain. This means that it can be used to create blockchain applications that can safely exchange coins with the mainchain in a decentralized and distributed way.

Horizen's sidechain SDK hides the complexity of the cross-chain transfer protocol and provides a solid base for blockchain-based application development. The sidechain can be run by untrusted nodes without the need for a central authority or trusted parties to validate cross-chain transfers.

The Zendoo sidechain model is decentralized in all its components, and this decentralization provides resilience and reliability to the network. The Zendoo sidechain platform is fueled by the cryptocurrency ZEN and supported by the largest node network in the industry.

The Zendoo sidechain system doesn't rely on third parties for backward transfers, removing the need for trusted parties and honesty. It leverages ZK-Snarks to provide a means for the mainchain to effectively validate withdrawals. Zendoo allows the verification of sidechains by the mainchain without knowing the internal structure of the sidechain.

The Zendoo SDK provides a set of tools that will enable the creation of auditable and privacy-preserving blockchain applications, a requirement for many real-world applications.

Horizen's pros and cons

Pros

• Horizen is a privacy-focused cryptocurrency and blockchain network that aims to solve the scaling and security issues found in networks like Ethereum.
• Horizen has a large ecosystem of nodes, with over 40,000 active nodes, making it the king of the node count. This provides excellent security and scalability.
• Horizen combines proof-of-work (POW) with proof-of-stake (POS), rewarding new tokens to both miners and validators.
• Horizen offers zero-knowledge proofs, which make transactions private and anonymous.
• Horizen has a strong team behind the project, with co-founders Robert Viglione and Rolf Versluis having impressive backgrounds in the US military, semiconductor industry, and cryptocurrency mining.
• Horizen has partnerships with major companies such as Celsius Network (CEL) and IOTA (IOTA).
• Horizen has been listed on several top cryptocurrency exchanges, including Binance, Huobi Global, and OKEx.
• Horizen has a total supply of 21 million ZEN, similar to Bitcoin, and has a periodic halving of block rewards.
• Horizen has maintained resilience in its value, trading close to its launch price despite volatility in the cryptocurrency market.
• Horizen has a bustling developer community, with over 1,100 developers enrolled in its early adopter program.

Cons

• Horizen faced a 51% attack in 2018, where an attacker gained control of more than half of the network's mining power and stole about $600,000.
• Horizen is a risky investment, as with all cryptocurrencies, and its price is subject to high volatility.
• Horizen has a relatively low market cap and trading volume compared to other cryptocurrencies.
• Horizen is facing a hard time getting on board with other crypto coins, with a decrease in value in the last 7 days.
• Horizen may not be a profitable asset in the short term, despite having strong fundamentals.

Frequently asked questions