StealthEX x Zano AMA Recap: Private PoS, Confidential Assets & FUSD

StealthEX instant crypto exchange hosted an AMA session with Zano, represented by Quenten van Welzen, Head of Marketing & Growth and Ronnie van Rijn, Social Media Manager.

Community Questions

Q1: There are several privacy-focused projects in crypto. What are the core technical innovations that make Zano fundamentally different from other privacy coins?

Most privacy coins do one thing really well — private payments, like Monero for example. Our co-founder Andre created CryptoNote, the codebase that Monero uses for its privacy tech.

But Andre had a bigger vision. A couple of years later, he created Zano.

There are two main differences:

1. Confidential Assets
This allows users to create privacy tokens on top of Zano that have the same privacy level as native Zano. Hidden amounts, hidden addresses, hidden asset types.

This was introduced end of 2022 or beginning of 2023. Since then, you can compare Zano to a private Ethereum. It has been heavily battle-tested. Around 750 assets have already been created. Notable ones include Freedom Dollar, Confidential Layer, and Obscura.

2. Zarcanum (Private Proof-of-Stake)
Zano has the world’s first privacy proof-of-stake with hidden amounts. Even when staking, the amount is hidden.

Many privacy projects are stuck on proof-of-work. Proof-of-stake with hidden amounts was considered impossible. Zano already has it.

There are misconceptions that proof-of-stake is less secure. The opposite is true.

With proof-of-work, you only need majority hash rate. You can incentivize miners with higher rewards and gain control.

With proof-of-stake, you need majority of staked coins. Around 70–80% of Zano’s supply is staked. To attack, you’d need to buy millions of coins — not even all exchanges combined hold enough supply for that.

We’re planning to go full proof-of-stake later this year. That means:

• Faster block times (possibly ~22 seconds)
• Around 3 confirmations
• Finality in under 1 minute

Completely private, but 20 times faster than competitors.

Q2: How do untraceable transactions, confidential assets, and anonymous staking advance decentralization, security, and user sovereignty?

Everything Zano develops is with the end user in mind.

Privacy protects users. Without privacy, you can become a target. We’ve seen wrench attacks and kidnappings of people with visible on-chain wealth.

Businesses don’t want competitors seeing money flows. Employees don’t want salaries visible.

If crypto is meant to replace fiat banking, why adopt transparent systems?

Privacy keeps fungibility intact. It keeps users safe.

Q3: What is the expected timeline for full transition away from hybrid PoW/PoS, and how will it impact rewards, security, and energy efficiency?

It’s on the roadmap for Q3 this year.

We have two hard forks planned:

• Hard Fork 6: Gateway addresses — easier integrations for exchanges, payment processors, DEXs.
• Hard Fork 7: Full proof-of-stake upgrade.

Staking rewards will stay roughly the same. If blocks are 3× faster, rewards per block are 3× smaller to maintain yearly emission.

We care about security first — highest possible cost of attack.

Q4: For developers wanting to build privacy-first apps on Zano, what are the best starting resources?

We rebuilt our website. Go to zano.org → developers.

You’ll find documentation, GitHub, APIs, bug bounty via Immunefi, tools like confidential assets and atomic swaps.

Join Telegram or Discord — we have dedicated builder channels.

Q5: Zano promotes untraceable transactions. Are there mechanisms for authorized access in criminal investigations?

Privacy tools are neutral. They protect the vast majority of legitimate users.

Transparent chains surveil everyone to catch a tiny fraction of bad actors.

Once your wallet is linked to your identity, you become a permanent target.

Cash is still the number one tool for criminals. Around 1% of illicit transactions involve crypto — and even less involve privacy coins.

We’re not banning cash. The same logic should apply.

Q6: How do you handle centralized exchanges being reluctant to list privacy coins?

It’s difficult. Tier-one exchanges either refuse privacy coins or charge excessive listing fees — sometimes €500,000 to €1,000,000.

We prefer investing in integrations instead.

Gateway addresses lower integration barriers.

We’re excited about decentralized exchanges. After the upcoming hard fork, we expect new DEX listings.

Q7: How do you navigate compliance while maintaining privacy fundamentals?

KYC at on-ramps is mostly unavoidable today.

The key is what happens inside the network. Once inside Zano, transactions are fully private.

Compliance may exist at the gateway, but it doesn’t define what happens inside the network.

Q8: What use cases will drive the first major wave of adoption?

Freedom Dollar (FUSD) — a privacy stablecoin — is leading.

At Porcupine Festival in New Hampshire, merchants accepted Freedom Dollar. It solved volatility issues.

Zano integrated with the Zeek debit card network. You can top up Zano or FUSD and spend wherever Mastercard is accepted.

Other major use cases:

• Confidential Layer: Non-custodial bridge. Turn BTC, ETH, SOL into private versions (e.g., BTCX).
• Obscura: Privacy NFTs for tickets, gated communities, discounts, private event access.

Stablecoins will likely drive the first big adoption wave.

Live Questions

Q9: How does Zano enable users to create and manage privacy tokens with confidential balances and ownership?

Confidential assets can be created from desktop or mobile wallets.

You fill out a simple form:

• Name
• Ticker
• Metadata
• Max supply
• Initial emission

Cost: 0.01 Zano (~€0.07).

It takes about 1 minute.

Assets can be traded immediately on ZanoTrade.

Q10: What role does community feedback play in development?

We have on-chain voting.

Each staked coin equals one vote. Larger stake = more voting power.

Community votes on things like which assets are whitelisted in wallets.

We’re active on Matrix, Telegram, Discord, Reddit, X, Instagram, LinkedIn. Ideas are always considered.

StealthEX: Thank you all for joining today!   

You can swap ZANO crypto on StealthEX exchange platform. StealthEX is here to help you buy ZANO coin if you’re looking for a way to invest in this cryptocurrency. You can buy ZANO privately and without the need to sign up for the service. StealthEX crypto collection has more than 2,000 different coins, and you can do wallet-to-wallet transfers instantly and problem-free.

Just go to StealthEX and follow these easy steps:

• Choose the pair and the amount you want to exchange — for instance, ETH to ZANO. 
• Press the “Start exchange” button.
• Provide the recipient address to transfer your crypto to.
• Process the transaction.
• Receive your crypto coins.

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Don’t forget to do your own research before buying any crypto. The views and opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the author.