The Privacy Coin Surge: How Monero, Zcash, and Others Are Competing — w/ Diego Salazar | EPI 366

Any donation is greatly appreciated! 47e6GvjL4in5Zy5vVHMb9PQtGXQAcFvWSCQn2fuwDYZoZRk3oFjefr51WBNDGG9EjF1YDavg7pwGDFSAVWC5K42CBcLLv5U OR DONATE HERE: https://www.monerotalk.live/donate TODAY'S SHOW: This episode of Monero Talk features the CypherStack team — CEO Diego Salazar and mathematicians Brandon “Surae” Goodell and Luke — for a deep dive into Monero’s Full Chain Membership Proofs (FCMPs) and how they compare to Zcash. CypherStack is a privacy-focused research and development company behind Stack Wallet. Diego handles strategy while Brandon and Luke lead the mathematical research for Monero. They discussed their contributions to FCMPs, a major upgrade aimed at improving Monero’s privacy and scalability. While critics from the Zcash community call FCMPs “unproven,” the team explained that it uses well-established mathematics, not untested theory. They also compared Monero’s community-driven model with Zcash’s corporate structure, noting strengths and trade-offs in both approaches. Despite praising Zcash’s Halo 2 privacy tech, they argue Monero’s privacy-by-default design gives it a real-world edge.On timelines, Diego said FCMPs are “three steps from the finish line” but still tackling technical challenges. The episode ends with a candid look at funding struggles in open-source development and a call for continued community support. TIMESTAMPS: 00:01:22 - Introductions of Diego, Brandon, and Luke and discussion about the first Monero conference in 2017 00:08:18 - Diego explains Full Chain Membership Proofs (FCMPs) 00:12:43 - Discussion about "moon math" and the comparison between Monero and Zcash's mathematical approaches 00:27:38 - Brandon begins telling the Zcash origin story and trusted setup ceremony 00:47:10 - Comparison of Monero and Zcash projects 01:08:22 - Diego discusses what Monero needs to do to maintain its lead 01:32:44 - Discussion of interesting privacy tech projects outside of Monero 01:41:10 - Conversation about funding for Monero development 01:49:30 - Closing remarks and discussion about Monero Topia conference GUEST LINKS: https://x.com/thatonesalazar Purchase Cafe & tip the farmers w/ XMR! https://gratuitas.org/ SPONSORS: Cakewallet.com, the first open-source Monero wallet for iOS. You can even exchange between XMR, BTC, LTC & more in the app! Monero.com by Cake Wallet - ONLY Monero wallet (https://monero.com/) StealthEX, an instant exchange. Go to (https://stealthex.io) to instantly exchange between Monero and 450 plus assets, w/o having to create an account or register & with no limits. WEBSITE: https://www.monerotopia.com CONTACT: [e-mail] ODYSEE: https://odysee.com/@MoneroTalk:8 TWITTER: https://twitter.com/monerotalk FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/MoneroTalk HOST: https://twitter.com/douglastuman INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/monerotalk TELEGRAM: https://t.me/monerotopia MATRIX: https://matrix.to/#/%23monerotopia%3Amonero.social MASTODON: @[e-mail] MONERO.TOWN: https://monero.town/u/monerotalkAny donation is greatly appreciated!Any donation is greatly appreciated!