The spread of coronavirus has uncovered a number of vulnerabilities in today’s society. This crisis was not restricted only to developing countries, but also to a number of developed nations.
Several institutions have been wracking their heads in order to come up with solutions to combat the raging pandemic. In the midst of this, ZCash, a popular cryptocurrency organization, has begun developing its own contact tracing system to stem coronavirus spread.
The ZCash application will be used to track people who have come into contact with the virus. According to the developers, the key difference between the ZCash app and those on the market was the privacy factor. ZCash developers have pointed out that the open-source setup of the application will ensure that user information is always kept private.
Many companies, both in the mainstream and decentralized ecosystems, have stepped up to contribute what they can. Sydney Ifergan, an Honorary Advisor of Hong Kong International Blockchain Association recently tweeted:
“Ideally, we need contact tracing technologies which do not steal our privacy. We need to really think beyond the pandemic. Good that #Zcash Foundation is a part of making contact tracing without surveillance vide the #TCN Coalition.”
Experts have said that contact tracing was one of the easiest ways to decrease the pressure on local governments and stem the spread. One of the biggest challenges governments have faced are related to keeping people inside their homes and identifying who the actual carriers are. Russia, for example, has been toying with the idea of creating an application that would monitor citizens’ movements but that has naturally received backlash from critics.
According to ZCash, one of the key objectives of the application will be to operate across platforms as well as in several regions around the world. The application will be part of the Coalition for a Temporary Contact Number [TCN]. TCN is an extensible open-source ecosystem that is free to use and ready for immediate implementation. To ensure the smooth operation of the system, the temporary tracing number protocol will be compatible with any mobile device.