Chernobyl graphite used for ZCash algorithm generation

The new algorithm of ciphering for ZCash has been generated partly by a graphite from the reactor in Chernobyl which melted down in 1986, resulting in one of the biggest radioactive disasters known to man.

But its use was simpler than it can look: its radioactive impulses (not very dangerous) were the thing that activated a Geiger counter with a random number generator connected. The numbers resulting of this quite noteworthy method to get a random figure were used in the private code of ZCash. And, as if that was not enough, the whole ceremony has been conducted in a plane to ensure privacy.

This use of a graphite strikingly resembles the use of human breathing for spirometer - a device invented by a scientist from the Institute of Network Cultures in Amsterdam which made the computer mining dependable on exhales and inhales. In both cases, the work of the generation equipment is dependable of something one would not expect.

ZCash, along with DASH and Monero, focuses on cryptocurrency privacy, although the methods of the three development teams vary greatly. Nobody ever heard that DASH or Monero team used radioactive waste, even for promotional purposes.