About this episode

A discussion with Zooko, Nate Wilcox, and Sean Bowe about the Zcash protocol and its implications for privacy and cryptocurrency.

My conversation with Zooko, Nate Wilcox, and Sean Bowe about the Zcash protocol. Zooko is a cypherpunk who co-founded Zcash along with his brother, Nate Wilcox, and others. Sean Bowe is a cryptographer and engineer who has played a crucial role in the development of Zcash and has made significant contributions to advancements in zero-knowledge proofs, particularly zk-SNARKs, which underpin Zcash’s privacy features. Topics we discuss are well captured by the timestamps below. Watch on YouTube or X . Listen on Apple Podcasts , Spotify , or any other podcast platform. Follow me on X for updates on future episodes. Click here to support my work. Timestamps 0:00 - Zooko Wilcox-O’Hearn 0:04 - Writing the first blog post on Bitcoin ever 6:21 - Bitcoin’s fundamental privacy flaw 9:40 - Unstoppable private money 12:19 - Will Zcash compete with Bitcoin as a store of value? 14:24 - How many people are using Zcash? 16:18 - Good security is good usability 20:10 - Social credit systems and ubiquitous surveillance 23:43 - Why Monero’s privacy tech can’t work 35:21 - Integrating ZKPs into other blockchains 39:51 - Privacy comes from money at rest, not from money in flight 47:42 - Why did the…

People in this episode

Host: Arjun Khemani

Guests: Zooko Wilcox-O’Hearn, Nate Wilcox, Sean Bowe

Topics covered

• Zcash protocol
• cryptography
• privacy features
• zero-knowledge proofs
• Bitcoin comparison
• social credit systems
• blockchain technology

Keywords

• Zcash
• Bitcoin
• privacy
• cryptography
• zero-knowledge proofs
• ZKPs
• Monero
• blockchain
• cypherpunk
• stablecoins

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Zcash, Bitcoin, Monero, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube

More episodes of Arjun Khemani Podcast

• Sean Bowe and Dev Ojha: Architecture of Freedom · April 3, 2026 · 1h 23m
• Sean Bowe and Jack Grigg: Encrypted Money at Planetary Scale · October 11, 2025 · 1h 41m
• Samo Burja: Building an Immortal Society · July 11, 2025 · 59 min
• Zooko Wilcox and Josh Swihart: Unstoppable Private Money · June 3, 2025 · 1h 34m
• Ethan Thornton: The Future of Warfare · March 15, 2025 · 53 min
• Peter Boghossian: Moral Relativism and The Future of The West · February 26, 2025 · 1h 16m

Explore listener stats, chart rankings, contacts and more on the Arjun Khemani Podcast podcast page.