I have a few questions regarding launch day on October 28, any feedback is much appreciated:
Thank you!
Pablo.
There are two kinds of Zcash address - transparent and protected. Existing paper wallet generators will require a minor modification for fransparent addresses but my guess is that an entirely new approach would be needed to generate protected addresses.
A Zcash testnet block explorer has recently been made available - which is useful for verifying transparent address balances. Zcash testnet block explorer - #9 by Voluntary I’m not sure if the current full-node wallet software has the ability to derive a balance for protected addresses but it should by the time the mainnet starts.
I wouldn’t expect support from exchanges until a reasonable volume of zec has been mined.
Price will be up to buyers and sellers but, in my opinion, the signals they rely on at first are likely to be highly speculative.
What will need to be done to switch from the test net to the main net at (or before) launch?
IMO this should be a thread. It’s gonna become an increasingly-asked question!
What will need to be done to switch from the test net to the main net at (or before) launch?
I know a DEV on an exchange that is completely rebuilding it’s exchange engine. He and his partners may be interested in getting zcash on theirs early. As with most alt coins it’s normal to be skeptical but they may want to be a part of this thing growing. What’s an accurate sense on how big this coin is going to be? How quickly do you think zcash would be ready for an exchange with the slow start and everything considered?
Ever since way back in the days of the zerocoin protocol paper, this has been one of the most exciting projects in the cryptocurrency space.
I’m a diehard bitcoin fanatic, a mathematician, and infosec nerd and I’ve been following this space since late 2012. In my opinion, the only three cryptocurrencies currently worth paying any attention to are (1) Bitcoin, (2) Ethereum, and (3) Zcash.
[And frankly Ethereum is impressing me less and less these days. If they switch to PoS I’ll consider it a failed experiment. But I digress.]
In my estimation, zcash has the potential to become the third largest cryptocurrency (by market cap) within 3 years. The ‘trusted set up’ will be a hard sell (hell, it’s a hard sell to me, and love this project), as will the Founder’s Reward (which will be perceived – argue however you want – as a “poorly veiled premine” by the rest of the crypto community.)
But at the end of the day, the protocol is fucking genius, the math is beautiful, the team is just ridiculous (I mean seriously… how do you even get this many amazing crypto and infosec Titans on one project?) and MMMmmmm that anonymity set! Absolutely unbeatable by any other anonymity technology (both existing and proposed). Nothing else even comes close.
So yeah, if I were an exchange I’d want in. 
Well that is some enthusiasm lol. I will chat him up about it. He has been mining for quite a few years so I’m going to assume he’s heard of it. Who would I put him in contact with?
The Beta 1 software does have that ability, using the z_getbalance command.
After launch, it should be sufficient to remove testnet=1 from zcash.conf, and restart the node.
(This assumes that the final parameter files have been fetched, but I would expect there to be a window before launch when that will be possible.)
What happens when I remove testnet=1 now? Will it connect to anyone else running withouth testnet=1?
Is it advisable (or possible) to switch between accessing testnet and mainnet on the same system?
The mainnet chainparams are not tested at all at the moment. We will be testing them thoroughly before launch.