What is Firo cryptocurrency? Interview with Reuben Yap, Firo co-founder
Do you know about the Firo cryptocurrency?
Formerly known as Zcoin, Firo is a privacy coin and a project that focuses on financial privacy. Project members think that freedom of commerce can facilitate a state of peace and financial prosperity. Firo cryptocurrency can directly guarantee fungibility, an essential property for free commerce.
Moreover, Firo is a cryptocurrency that gives a lot of importance to decentralization!
As you can see, Firo is a very interesting cryptocurrency, full of surprises. We had the honor to interview one of its founders: Reuben Yap.
Just like you, we wanted to know more about the cryptocurrency Firo. Why and how was Firo created? How to take part in the Firo project? The answers are here!
Interview with Reuben Yap, the Firo cryptocurrency co-founder
We had the opportunity to ask questions on Discord to Reuben Yap, co-founder of Firo. We would like to thank him warmly for his time.
Let’s go for the interview!
Why did you decide to launch the Firo project?
Reuben Yap: Firo was launched as Zcoin in 2016. Back then, cryptocurrencies were mainly focused on variants of Bitcoin either through changes in block times, emission or mining algorithm.
However, we were really focused on some key problems which still exist today, such as the lack of privacy, fast and final transactions, fair and accessible distribution of coins, and sustainable funding.
Bitcoin was unlikely to adopt the advanced cryptography required that would support meaningful privacy and already had an entrenched ASIC mining ecosystem. This is why we created the Firo project.
To this end, we pioneered some of the most important privacy protocols Zerocoin, Sigma, Lelantus, Lelantus Spark and many of our innovations have been used and adapted by other projects such as Monero, Beam and PIVX. We also invested into research for ASIC resistant mining algorithms such as MTP and also FiroPoW (based on ProgPOW).
In your opinion, what are the Firo cryptocurrency's main values in addition to decentralization (or in connection with)?
Reuben Yap: Privacy is one of our main goals and we see it as a necessity for a decentralized currency. Privacy and self sovereignty goes hand in hand as only with private transactions can funds or wallets be blacklisted.
We are also not maximalists and take a pragmatic approach. We are always open to new ideas from other projects and are happy to adopt them with community feedback.
For example, ProgPoW the algorithm which FiroPoW is based on was originally built for Ethereum, and we adopt a modified version of Dash’s masternode system for protection against 51% attacks and instant finality. We focus where our strengths are, which is developing privacy technology.
According to you, why do you think miners are interested in mining Firo?
Reuben Yap: Firo has really focused on being accessible to GPU miners and the FiroPoW algorithm is specifically catered for that. Mining also goes hand in hand with privacy coins as mining is a permissionless way to get some coins into your hand without having to sign-up to an exchange or have existing cryptocurrency.
We have seen some loyal Firo miners and ecosystem players that have backed the project and we are excited to have Cruxpool take efforts to decentralize hashrate along with investing in engaging the Firo community.
What new features and protocols would you like to add for Firo cryptocurrency?
Reuben Yap: Lelantus Spark which is a privacy protocol that our researchers have created. We are very proud of this development which is a new approach to onchain privacy that is different from the existing popular methods of RingCT, zkSNARKs and Mimblewimble and we can not wait to see it live.
Elysium is also coming really soon. Our partnership with DotOracle would allow bridging of stablecoins from other major chains and enjoy the Firo privacy. I would like to see Firo move into becoming privacy infrastructure for other chains where instead of relying on fiddly mixers or expensive smart contracts, you can just bridge into our chain and enjoy privacy cheaply and easily.
Spats (Spark Assets), which modifies Lelantus Spark so that transfers look the same regardless of the asset being transferred, is a key component in making this project a reality.
Do you have a little anecdote to tell us about Firo cryptocurrency or your experience in mining?
Reuben Yap: Mining was my gateway to cryptocurrency and it was a really fun way to learn the ropes and get down and dirty with the cryptocurrency.
In 2013 which is when I started, that often meant syncing a full node wallet and going through forums to learn how to mine or even assembling your own ASICs or mining rigs! Once you’ve completed this ‘trial of fire’ you get a really good education of cryptocurrency and mining.
I remember tending to my little farm in the dead of the night when it went down and I even had an Antminer S2 catch on fire!
Things are a lot easier now and even then you still have people complaining about editing .bat files. This newfound ease of mining is great as it becomes more accessible, but it also has created a new class of miners that act more apathetically to the project and just mine directly to an exchange, whatever is giving them the highest return.
We’ve seen that there were elections related to the governance of Firo's community. Why such a choice and what is the purpose of it?
Reuben Yap: The idea is to begin the process of the community assuming responsibility of the project and to have funds to utilize to help grow Firo or build on it rather than reliance on the core team.
Projects like ours which are funded from a portion of the block reward face challenges where although our funding is sustainable, lean and received over time, we are often expected to assume the same responsibilities of projects that have centralized allocations and have their funds available upfront.
Creating the community fund allows for community led proposals to be funded independently from the core team! All the deliberations of the Community Fund Committee are public and can be viewed on our Telegram “Firo Community Fund Committee”. You can also check out Firo ongoing funding proposals.
Which Firo mining pool to choose?
For us, Cruxpool, Firo is a really interesting cryptocurrency that has retained our intention.
That is why we added Firo to our mining pool with the simple idea to support the project and create an opportunity for miners to better control the spread of hashrate.
We launched our Firo mining pool to distribute hashrate and allow decentralization. Our idea was to create an alternative, in a PPS format, so that miners could be at least presented with more solutions to decentralize hashrate.
Why Firo cryptocurrency on Cruxpool?
We want to support projects that value the necessity of privacy for a decentralized currency. We also want to support projects that have a vision committed to Proof of Work, allowing anyone with hardware to participate in the validation process of blockchains.
Also, the developers are just open to discussion which is the icing on the cake. Reuben Yap proves it to us, as he agreed to answer our questions. A big thank you to him!
Why should you mine Firo cryptocurrency on Cruxpool?
We have a PPS mining pool that will help miners get a stable revenue. PPS system means that every share you submit will be paid. You will still be paid for those shares no matter what.
Plus, Firo mining on Cruxpool has a 0% fee. We are not making anything by proposing Firo today, you will just get 100% of what you mine.
We are a mining pool that is evolving fast! Because we are already working on solutions for miners to avoid transaction fees in between exchanges and crypto wallets.
At last, our support might be the best you will find out there. We have Telegram or even Discord to keep in touch with miners and come up with solutions as fast as possible.
If you want to mine Firo on Cruxpool, you can check our tutorials on how to mine Firo, how to mine with Firominer and how to open an Electrum Wallet. These tutorials agree to know Firo mining!
Firo is an ambitious privacy coin that continues to evolve for miners. Its co-founder, Reuben Yap, demonstrates it in his interview.
Offering the Firo cryptocurrency on our mining pool Cruxpool is a way to involve our miners in interesting projects that allow decentralization.