You may be wondering, if Zcash is so great why doesn’t Bitcoin just release an upgrade with zero-knowledge proofs? This can be done easily, but it would be a trade-off that would undermine what makes Bitcoin great in the first place. No, Zcash is not “encrypted Bitcoin”. Here is a good explanation: 1. Bitcoin’s decentralization = low barrier to verification Bitcoin’s design goal is that anyone can verify the entire chain independently on modest hardware — a laptop, Raspberry Pi, or old PC. That’s why blocks are small (1–4 MB) and scripts are simple. This ensures: •Thousands of full nodes worldwide •No reliance on trusted intermediaries •Resistance to capture by miners or large entities If zk-proofs were required for every transaction, validation would demand much higher CPU and RAM resources — possibly even specialized hardware — instantly raising the bar for who can run a node. 2. Computational weight of zk-proofs Generating or verifying zk-SNARKs/STARKs isn’t cheap: •Proof verification requires heavy elliptic-curve operations and complex cryptographic circuits. •Block validation would shift from “check digital signatures and UTXO balances” (light) to “verify nested algebraic proofs” (heavy). Even modest increases in computational cost, when multiplied across millions of transactions and thousands of nodes, quickly become prohibitive. That means only data centers, exchanges, or well-funded actors could afford to validate — precisely what Bitcoin was built to avoid. 3. Centralization cascade Once fewer people can run nodes, several risks appear: •Information asymmetry: fewer independent verifiers means the community relies on a handful of entities to tell them what the “real” chain is. •Censorship pressure: regulators can target those large node operators. •Consensus risk: if only a small cluster maintains the chain, collusion or software errors could silently change rules. This mirrors what happened with Ethereum, where zk-rollup infrastructure is now maintained by specialized teams rather than the average user verifying everything locally. 4. Bitcoin’s deliberate simplicity Satoshi’s architecture was minimal for a reason — simplicity preserves decentralization. Bitcoin’s “ossified” culture treats new cryptography as adjacent layers (e.g., Lightning, sidechains) instead of modifying the core protocol. Embedding heavy zero-knowledge proofs into Bitcoin’s base layer would make node operation resource-intensive, concentrating validation power in fewer hands and eroding the system’s decentralization — the very thing that gives Bitcoin its trustless integrity.

By the way, I am all for the Zcash pump. Whatever narrative will keep it pumping is great & I hope you make a fortune. But you need to know what you own. Nothing can ever replace BTC. Trade alts. HODL BTC forever.