- BNB Chain and zERC20 launched zBNB, a privacy-wrapped version of BNB.
- zBNB uses zero-knowledge proofs and a burn-and-mint wrapping process to conceal transaction data.
- The feature aims to preserve standard wallet compatibility, low fees, and fast finality.
- Initial community reaction was positive with no major technical issues reported.
BNB Chain announced on Monday that zBNB, a privacy-enabled variant of BNB that keeps sender and receiver data, balance, and transaction history private while still enabling on-chain usage, is now live.
Based on the zERC20 protocol, branded as zBNB by the team, this effort is the first major native privacy solution and was made public, with some commentary from a BNB Chain growth manager on social channels.
How zBNB Works
zBNB is a wrapped version of Binance Coin (BNB) that uses the zERC20 protocol’s zero-knowledge mechanism. Users can convert their BNB to zBNB by sending their BNB to a “burn” address, which returns a proof and the zBNB tokens, usable on-chain without revealing the transactions that use them.
The published proofs will allow users to verify that tokens are being used without revealing any sensitive details about those uses.
The teams promise that this implementation is designed to be as non-intrusive as possible to the typical BNB Chain experience. The zBNB tokens are compatible with all standard wallet implementations, and the team promises that the fees will be as low as ever, with quick finality just like on the main chain.
The teams also state that the solution will be open source and will implement zero-knowledge cross-chain capabilities that the rest of the network has built.
Early Adoption and What Comes Next
So far, the market reaction has been overwhelmingly positive, with the community creating community guides in social channels on how to “wrap” BNB and complete private transactions.
Nina Rong, BNB Chain’s executive director of growth, noted that the growing support of privacy protocols for the blockchain platform’s 750 million unique wallets is a welcome development. As of the time of writing, no technical issues have been reported.
Moreover, one reason public blockchains have remained unpopular for use cases such as corporate use or even casual retail users is the historical ability to trace all transactions made on those blockchains.
The introduction of an optional feature like this will help onboard more use cases in the payments space, DeFi apps, and enterprise use cases without sacrificing transparency for users who do not wish to use the feature.
Therefore, there is likely to be significant interest from regulators in this product and its use over time. The teams have invited users to try it out and leave comments as the feature is still in its initial deployment phase.
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