Horizen EON Updates - ZenIP 42207 Passes with Overwhelming Community Support

Horizen is the layer 0 public blockchain that enables the zero-knowledge network of blockchains. The ecosystem is powered by the largest node system and a massively scalable cross-chain protocol, Zendoo.

What makes EON special? It's sidechain not a layer-2 solution, meaning that all the tools will be benefit from the full power of the Horizen open-source public protocol.

Horizen's approach towards decentralized governance reached it's peak in September 2023, when the Horizen DAO was launched. As a community-driven project, Horizen recognized that a strong social layer is crucial for maintaining integrity across the ecosystem.

The first DAO vote was a success and now ZenIP 42207 passed with overwhelming community support, passing with 99.97% of votes “for”! The voting participation marks a new step in the progress of the Horizen DAO and we are glad to see that our community is involved in the project’s decisions.

The successfully passed ++ZenIP 42207++ enables the complete removal of the shielded pool from the Horizen mainchain, achieving a wide range of various goals. This change builds upon the deprecation of access to the shielded pool enacted by ZenIP 42204 and is a response to the evolving regulatory environment around privacy tokens, re-confirming and showcasing the project’s strategic pivot away from privacy-focused features.

What does it mean for Horizen and ZEN holders? The proposal builds on the deprecation of access to the shielded pool, which was enacted by ZenIP 42204, and is a response to the evolving regulatory environment around privacy tokens. This proposal highlights our overarching goals to pivot away from privacy-focused features on the Horizen mainchain.

Did I do my part? Obviously ... because I love to be active in governance! No matter how small your slice is... keep voting... because the small holders are the ones that power DAOs. I used wisely my 33 $ZEN to vote in ZenIP 42204, and I am waiting for more snapshots.

Here’s a summary of the proposal and what will happen:

• Complete Disabling of Shielded Transactions: All functionalities related to the shielded transactions (z-addresses) will be completely deactivated, preventing any type of transaction related to the shielded pool.
• Removal of Related RPC Calls: RPC calls specifically related to shielded transactions, such as z_sendmany and z_mergetoaddress will be deprecated.
• Migration Path for Users: A migration path with the necessary tools and guides will be provided to users to move their assets out of the shielded pool before the hard fork. Community support and detailed documentation will be available to facilitate this transition.
• Network Upgrade: The deactivation of the shielded pool will occur through a network upgrade at a specified block height (TBD). Extensive testing, community preparation, and communication will precede this upgrade.
• Communication and Timeline: Representatives of the Horizen ecosystem will communicate regularly with the community about the timeline, necessary user actions, and available support resources throughout the transition process.

The ZEN 5.0.0 version is expected to be released in January and pushed live on Mainnet in February 2024. Once ZEN 5.0.0 will be live on mainnet, the access to shielded transactions will not be functional.

What will follow? Any funds on shielded addresses need to be moved before the hardfork. The funds will be lost if they are kept shielded! There is a special channel in the Horizen Discord for those having trouble with un-shielding.