Zcash
Proof-of-work cryptocurrency, launched in 2016, whose shielded pools use zero-knowledge proofs to hide the sender, receiver and amount of ZEC payments.
LivePrivacy coin
Mainnet has run since 28 October 2016; Ironwood (NU6.3) opened on 28 July 2026 while Orchard takes in no new value, and NU7, live on testnet since 4 October, is targeted for mainnet on 5 November 2026, with its height due to be set on 20 October.
- Market cap
- $19.15BDefiLlama, 18 Oct 2026
- Shielded
- 29.2% of supplyZecStats, 18 Oct 2026
- Launched
- 28 Oct 2016
- Token
- ZEC
- Chains
- Zcash
How it works
Zcash is a proof-of-work blockchain, based on Bitcoin's code, that launched on 28 October 2016. Its coin, ZEC, can be held in two kinds of address. Transparent addresses work like Bitcoin: the sender, receiver and amount of every payment are public. Shielded addresses keep coins in shielded pools, where those details are encrypted on the chain. The shielded design has been rebuilt several times, so Zcash has a series of pools: Sprout from launch, Sapling from 2018, Orchard from 2022 and Ironwood from July 2026. Sprout has accepted no new funds since the Canopy upgrade in 2020, and Orchard has taken in no new value since Ironwood opened.
A shielded payment does not show which coins were spent. Instead it publishes encrypted notes for the recipient and a zero-knowledge proof, a zk-SNARK, which lets every node check that the spender owns the coins, that they have not already been spent and that no value has been created, without learning who paid whom or how much. Each spent note also reveals a one-time code, called a nullifier, that blocks double spending without identifying the note. Memos sent with shielded payments are encrypted as well, and a holder can give a viewing key to an auditor or accountant to reveal their own shielded history. Sprout and Sapling proofs rely on parameters generated in multi-party setup ceremonies, whereas Orchard uses the Halo 2 proof system, which needs no trusted setup. Ironwood builds on a corrected version of the Orchard design and formats its notes so that funds could later be recovered through a separate protocol if its current cryptography were broken, for example by a quantum computer, although ZIP 2005 says this does not by itself make Zcash secure against quantum attackers.
Privacy is optional and only covers coins that stay shielded. On 16 October 2026 about 29% of the ZEC supply was in shielded pools and about 70% in transparent addresses, according to ZecStats. Whenever ZEC moves into or out of a shielded pool, or from one pool to another, the amount crossing the boundary is public, so a deposit and a later withdrawal of a similar amount at a similar time can be linked. Fees, the time a transaction is mined and how many shielded inputs and outputs (or, in Orchard and Ironwood, actions) it contains remain visible, and the protocol does not hide the IP address a wallet uses to reach the network. TEX addresses, defined in ZIP 320 because Binance requires deposits from identifiable sources, tell wallets to pay them only from transparent funds, so those deposits carry a public history.
Market cap and shielded value
- $19.15B market cap now
- -27.6% in 30 days
- $27.92B highest daily market cap, 26 Sep 2026
- $5.60B of ZEC shielded now, 29.2% of supply
Zcash has no TVL: it is a coin with its own blockchain, so the chart shows its market cap, and the value of the ZEC held in its shielded pools at each day's price. Daily market cap from Coin Metrics Community Data (CC BY-NC 4.0) since 29 Oct 2016, and the current value from DefiLlama. Shielded ZEC from zeczcash.com (daily) and ZecStats (now). The latest value is from 18 Oct 2026, 05:57 UTC. The series is in protocol-zcash.json, listed on the Data page.
What it hides and what it does not
What it hides
- In shielded payments, the sender, the receiver and the amount, and which notes were spent.
- Memos sent with shielded payments.
What it does not hide
- Transparent payments, which show the sender, receiver and amount as on Bitcoin: about 70% of the ZEC supply was in transparent addresses on 16 Oct 2026, according to ZecStats.
- The amount whenever ZEC moves into or out of a shielded pool, or from one pool to another.
- Fees, the time a transaction is mined and how many shielded inputs and outputs, or actions, it contains.
- The IP address a wallet uses to reach the network, which the protocol does not hide.
- A holder's own shielded history, to anyone the holder gives a viewing key.
Drawn from how it works, above; the sources are listed at the end of the page. Where privacy still leaks explains the patterns, such as timing and amounts, that can give users of any design away.
Audits
Ten security reviews, oldest first, with what each covered and found. Dates are when each report was issued, unless the entry says otherwise.
| Date | Firm | Scope and findings |
|---|---|---|
| NCC Group | Review, commissioned in August 2016, of how the Zcash implementation follows the protocol specification, its cryptographic code, and the C++ code of Zcash and the libsnark library. |
|
| Least Authority | Implementation analysis of zcashd 1.0.15 and review of the Overwinter specification (final report). Source: Zcash (3 Parts) |
|
| Least Authority | Review of the Overwinter and Sapling protocol specification, version 2018.0-beta-20 (final report). Source: Zcash (3 Parts) |
|
| Least Authority | Review of the Sapling implementation and the RPC interface (updated report; a final report was due after a verification phase). Source: Zcash (3 Parts) |
|
| NCC Group | Review, commissioned by the Electric Coin Company, of the Overwinter consensus code (26 March to 6 April 2018) and the Rust implementation of Sapling's cryptographic primitives, including its elliptic curves, shielded transaction structure and signature scheme (7 to 18 May 2018), with retesting on 4 and 5 September 2018; the date is when the public report was published. Source: Zcash Overwinter Consensus and Sapling Cryptography Review |
|
| QEDIT | NU5 audit, from 21 April to 24 September 2021, of the Halo 2 proving system, the Orchard protocol and its Action circuit, their primitives and key derivation, and related ZIPs and code; it reported no critical issues, with 7 warning-level and 19 minor issues. Sources: Zcash NU5 Final Audit Report - September 2021 ; Zcash NU5 |
|
| NCC Group | Cryptography review of the NU5 upgrade (Orchard), commissioned by the Electric Coin Company, covering the specification changes, the relevant ZIPs and the implementation. |
|
| Not dated | Mary Maller (cryptography researcher) | Review of the Halo 2 security proof and protocol used by Orchard, listed among the NU5 security audits on the Zcash website, which gives no date for it. Source: Zcash NU5 |
| NCC Group | Security assessment, carried out from 27 February to 12 May 2023, of the Zebra node and its cryptographic dependencies for the Zcash Foundation; no critical or high findings, with one medium, seven low and eight informational issues. Source: Zcash Zebra Security Assessment |
|
| Shielded Labs (audit carried out by an independent researcher) | Ongoing, AI-assisted security audit of the Orchard protocol, commissioned by Shielded Labs, during which the researcher found the Orchard soundness flaw closed by the June 2026 emergency soft fork and NU6.2; the date is when the flaw was reported. Sources: Orchard Vulnerability Successfully Remediated ; ZIP 257: Deployment of the Orchard Temporary Vulnerability Mitigation and NU6.2 Network Upgrade |
Incidents
Four incidents, oldest first: flaws, exploits, sanctions, prosecutions and other events that affected the project or its users.
-
The Electric Coin Company disclosed a counterfeiting flaw (CVE-2019-7167) in the proving system of the original Sprout pool, found by one of its cryptographers on 1 March 2018 and closed by the Sapling upgrade; it found no evidence that anyone had exploited it.
Source: Zcash Counterfeiting Vulnerability Successfully Remediated
-
From June 2022, shortly after NU5, spam transactions with very large numbers of shielded outputs swelled the chain and stopped several light wallets from syncing, so some users temporarily could not reach their funds. The ZIP 317 fee change, shipped in zcashd 5.5.0 in April 2023, throttled the spam, and the Electric Coin Company ended its emergency response on 1 November 2023.
-
The Zcash Foundation said the US Securities and Exchange Commission had concluded an inquiry that began with a subpoena on 31 August 2023 and did not intend to recommend any enforcement action against it.
-
A soundness flaw in the Orchard circuit, reported on 29 May 2026, could have allowed theft and balance violations within Orchard; an emergency soft fork disabled Orchard transactions on 2 June and NU6.2 restored them with a corrected circuit on 3 June, and developers found no evidence of exploitation.
Sources: ZIP 257: Deployment of the Orchard Temporary Vulnerability Mitigation and NU6.2 Network Upgrade ; Orchard Vulnerability Successfully Remediated ; Zcash blocks 0, 419200, 1046400, 1687104, 2726400, 3146400, 3363426, 3364600 and 3428143
Milestones
14 milestones, oldest first.
-
Zcash mainnet launched, with the Sprout shielded pool alongside transparent addresses.
Sources: Zcash blocks 0, 419200, 1046400, 1687104, 2726400, 3146400, 3363426, 3364600 and 3428143 ; Zcash Counterfeiting Vulnerability Successfully Remediated
-
Sapling activated at block 419,200, cutting the time and memory needed to create a shielded payment to as little as a few seconds and 40 MB to open the way for mobile wallets, and moving Sprout to new Groth16 proofs.
Sources: Sapling ; Zcash Counterfeiting Vulnerability Successfully Remediated ; zcash_protocol consensus.rs: mainnet network upgrade activation heights ; Zcash blocks 0, 419200, 1046400, 1687104, 2726400, 3146400, 3363426, 3364600 and 3428143
-
Canopy activated at block 1,046,400 with the first halving, ending the Founders' Reward, starting a four-year development fund of 20% of block rewards (ZIP 1014) and closing the Sprout pool to new funds (ZIP 211).
Sources: ZIP 1014: Establishing a Dev Fund for ECC, ZF, and Major Grants ; ZIP 211: Disabling Addition of New Value to the Sprout Chain Value Pool ; Funding, Incentives, and Governance ; zcash_protocol consensus.rs: mainnet network upgrade activation heights ; Zcash blocks 0, 419200, 1046400, 1687104, 2726400, 3146400, 3363426, 3364600 and 3428143
-
NU5 activated at block 1,687,104, adding the Orchard shielded pool, whose Halo 2 proofs need no trusted setup, and unified addresses.
Sources: Zcash NU5 ; Public Report: Zcash NU5 Cryptography Review ; zcash_protocol consensus.rs: mainnet network upgrade activation heights ; Zcash blocks 0, 419200, 1046400, 1687104, 2726400, 3146400, 3363426, 3364600 and 3428143
-
ZIP 320 defined TEX addresses, which tell wallets to pay them only from transparent funds, to meet Binance's requirement that deposits come from source addresses identifiable on chain.
Source: ZIP 320: Defining an Address Type to which funds can only be sent from Transparent Addresses
-
The Electric Coin Company released the Zashi mobile wallet on iOS, supporting the Sapling and Orchard pools and unified addresses, with an Android release planned for late April.
-
NU6 activated at block 2,726,400 with the second halving, sending 8% of block rewards to Zcash Community Grants, through the Financial Privacy Foundation, and 12% to a lockbox for 420,000 blocks, about one year (ZIP 1015).
Sources: ZIP 1015: Block Subsidy Allocation for Non-Direct Development Funding ; Upgrade ; zcash_protocol consensus.rs: mainnet network upgrade activation heights ; Zcash blocks 0, 419200, 1046400, 1687104, 2726400, 3146400, 3363426, 3364600 and 3428143
-
NU6.1 activated at block 3,146,400, introducing a funding model in which coinholders vote on grants from a fund receiving 12% of block rewards until the third halving (ZIP 1016).
Sources: ZIP 1016: Community and Coinholder Funding Model ; Upgrade ; zcash_protocol consensus.rs: mainnet network upgrade activation heights ; Zcash blocks 0, 419200, 1046400, 1687104, 2726400, 3146400, 3363426, 3364600 and 3428143
-
Grayscale filed a registration statement (Form S-3) with the SEC to list its Zcash Trust, formed on 23 October 2017 and quoted on OTCQX under the ticker ZCSH, on NYSE Arca.
-
The former Electric Coin Company team, which had left the company in its entirety in January 2026, announced it had formed Zcash Open Development Lab (ZODL) and was renaming the Zashi wallet to Zodl.
-
NU6.2 activated at block 3,364,600, re-enabling Orchard with a corrected circuit after the emergency soft fork.
Sources: ZIP 257: Deployment of the Orchard Temporary Vulnerability Mitigation and NU6.2 Network Upgrade ; Orchard Vulnerability Successfully Remediated ; Zcash blocks 0, 419200, 1046400, 1687104, 2726400, 3146400, 3363426, 3364600 and 3428143
-
Ironwood (NU6.3) activated at block 3,428,143, opening a new shielded pool, after which no new value could enter Orchard, transfers between different addresses inside it were disabled and funds already there could leave only through the turnstile.
Sources: Ironwood is live on Zcash ; ZIP 258: Deployment of the NU6.3 Network Upgrade ; zcash_protocol consensus.rs: mainnet network upgrade activation heights ; Zcash blocks 0, 419200, 1046400, 1687104, 2726400, 3146400, 3363426, 3364600 and 3428143
-
The Zcash ETF, Grayscale's former Zcash Trust, began trading on NYSE Arca under the ticker ZCSH.
Sources: Exhibit 99.1: The Zcash ETF (Ticker: ZCSH) Grows AUM to More Than $500 Million Following NYSE Arca Debut ; Grayscale Zcash Trust (ZEC), Form S-3
-
NU7, which cuts block spacing from 75 to 25 seconds, disables version 4 transactions and adds a Network Sustainability Mechanism, activated on testnet at height 4,465,026, ahead of a mainnet target of 5 November 2026 whose activation height is due to be set on 20 October.
Sources: Zebra 7.0.0-rc.0: NU7 Arrives on Testnet ; ZIP 259: Deployment of the NU7 Network Upgrade ; NU7 Timeline ; Testnet block 4,465,026
Funding
Six sources of funding, oldest first. Amounts are in US dollars; a dash means the sources give no US dollar figure.
| Date | Round | Amount | Investors |
|---|---|---|---|
Funding round for the Zcash Company, later the Electric Coin Company, announced as $1M (investors not named in the announcement) |
$1M | – | |
Founders' Reward: 20% of block rewards for the first four years, about 10% of the 21 million supply, for founders, investors, employees and advisers (paid in ZEC, so no fixed US dollar amount) Sources: Funding, Incentives, and Governance ; Zcash blocks 0, 419200, 1046400, 1687104, 2726400, 3146400, 3363426, 3364600 and 3428143 |
– | – | |
Development fund (ZIP 1014): 20% of block rewards for four years, split 7% to the Electric Coin Company via Bootstrap, 5% to the Zcash Foundation and 8% to Major Grants (paid in ZEC, so no fixed US dollar amount) Sources: ZIP 1014: Establishing a Dev Fund for ECC, ZF, and Major Grants ; Zcash blocks 0, 419200, 1046400, 1687104, 2726400, 3146400, 3363426, 3364600 and 3428143 |
– | – | |
Development funding (ZIP 1015): 8% of block rewards to Zcash Community Grants, through the Financial Privacy Foundation, and 12% to a lockbox for 420,000 blocks, about one year (paid in ZEC, so no fixed US dollar amount) Sources: ZIP 1015: Block Subsidy Allocation for Non-Direct Development Funding ; Zcash blocks 0, 419200, 1046400, 1687104, 2726400, 3146400, 3363426, 3364600 and 3428143 |
– | – | |
Community and coinholder funding model (ZIP 1016): 8% of block rewards to Zcash Community Grants and 12% to a coinholder-controlled fund, seeded with the lockbox balance, until the third halving (paid in ZEC, so no fixed US dollar amount) Sources: ZIP 1016: Community and Coinholder Funding Model ; Upgrade ; Zcash blocks 0, 419200, 1046400, 1687104, 2726400, 3146400, 3363426, 3364600 and 3428143 |
– | – | |
Seed round for Zcash Open Development Lab (ZODL), announced as more than $25 million, with no lead investor named and individual angel investors also taking part |
$25M | Paradigm, a16z crypto, Winklevoss Capital, Coinbase Ventures, Cypherpunk Technologies, Maelstrom, Chapter One |
Risks
Zcash's privacy depends on users keeping ZEC shielded, and most supply is not: about 70% sat in transparent addresses on 16 October 2026, and transfers into or out of the shielded pools reveal amounts that can be matched by size and timing. Ironwood only opened on 28 July 2026, so its note history is short, and moving funds from Orchard to Ironwood reveals the amount moved. The Orchard circuit carried a soundness flaw from NU5 in May 2022 until NU6.2 in June 2026; developers found no evidence that it was exploited and detected no impact on total supply, and the turnstile stops Orchard paying out more than it has verifiably taken in, but because Orchard amounts are encrypted, the chain alone cannot confirm that no value was double-spent inside the pool. About 22,300 ZEC was still in the old Sprout pool on 16 October 2026, and ZIP 259 says funds left there become unspendable when NU7 activates, which developers target for 5 November 2026. Access through exchanges depends on compliance choices outside the protocol, such as Binance's requirement that deposits come from transparent sources, and development relies on a small number of organisations funded by block rewards and private investors, a structure that changed when the entire Electric Coin Company team left in January 2026 and formed ZODL.
Sources
The documents this profile rests on. Each audit, incident, milestone and funding round above also links its own sources.
- Upgrade
- Sapling
- Zcash NU5
- A look back: NU5 and network sandblasting
- Specifications and Zcash Improvement Proposals
- zcash_protocol consensus.rs: mainnet network upgrade activation heights
- Zcash blocks 0, 419200, 1046400, 1687104, 2726400, 3146400, 3363426, 3364600 and 3428143
- ZEC summary API: shielded and transparent pool balances
- Mainnet block 3,519,449: per-pool value balances of an Orchard to Ironwood transfer
- Testnet block 4,465,026
- ZIP 211: Disabling Addition of New Value to the Sprout Chain Value Pool
- ZIP 257: Deployment of the Orchard Temporary Vulnerability Mitigation and NU6.2 Network Upgrade
- ZIP 258: Deployment of the NU6.3 Network Upgrade
- ZIP 259: Deployment of the NU7 Network Upgrade
- ZIP 320: Defining an Address Type to which funds can only be sent from Transparent Addresses
- ZIP 1014: Establishing a Dev Fund for ECC, ZF, and Major Grants
- ZIP 1015: Block Subsidy Allocation for Non-Direct Development Funding
- ZIP 1016: Community and Coinholder Funding Model
- ZIP 2005: Ironwood Quantum Recoverability
- Orchard Vulnerability Successfully Remediated
- Ironwood is live on Zcash
- Zcash Wallet Zashi Is Becoming Zodl
- ZODL Raises $25M+ in Seed Funding
- Meet Zashi, ECC's new mobile wallet for Zcash
- Zcash Counterfeiting Vulnerability Successfully Remediated
- Funding, Incentives, and Governance
- Notice Concluding SEC Investigation
- Zebra 7.0.0-rc.0: NU7 Arrives on Testnet
- NU7 Timeline
- Grayscale Zcash Trust (ZEC), Form S-3
- Exhibit 99.1: The Zcash ETF (Ticker: ZCSH) Grows AUM to More Than $500 Million Following NYSE Arca Debut
- Zcash Cryptography and Code Review
- Zcash (3 Parts)
- Zcash Overwinter Consensus and Sapling Cryptography Review
- Zcash NU5 Final Audit Report - September 2021
- Public Report: Zcash NU5 Cryptography Review
- Zcash Zebra Security Assessment
