[Cryptography] Zcash Open Source Miner Challenge

[Zooko Wilcox-OHearn]

Hi folks!

I've been quiet on this list for a while now. I've been hard at work
on creating a Bitcoin-like cryptocurrency with zero-knowledge-based
crypto:

https://z.cash

This is the most sophisticated crypto that I've ever seen someone
attempt to deploy at scale to the Internet. (By all means feel free to
reply and teach me about counter-examples to that generalization.)

There's a lot going on there. To jump into the technical side, I'd
suggest the Zcash protocol spec:
https://github.com/zcash/zips/blob/master/protocol/protocol.pdf . For
an introduction to the bigger picture, probably our blog
(https://z.cash/blog/) and FAQ (https://z.cash/support/faq.html).

Okay the reason I'm writing today is to let you know about the Zcash
Open Source Miner Challenge:

https://zcashminers.org/

The Zcash company has donated $30,000 for prize money to reward better
open-source implementations of Equihash by Biryukov & Khovratovich:

https://www.internetsociety.org/sites/default/files/blogs-media/equihash-asymmetric-proof-of-work-based-generalized-birthday-problem.pdf

Jump in! The worst that can happen is that you get the fun and
education of implementing an interesting new proof-of-work algorithm.
:-)

Regards,

Zooko