Privacy is not about hiding bad things. It's about protecting good people.
When every transaction is tracked, financial privacy is the last line of defense against surveillance capitalism. Zcash (ZEC) is currently the most robust tool for mathematically guaranteed financial privacy.
- TL;DR
- Why Privacy Matters
- Security Basics (Start Here)
- Getting Started: Tools & Wallets
- How to Buy/Swap Zcash
- What Makes Zcash Unique
- The Evolution of Zcash
- Zcash Economics & Mining
- Zcash vs. Monero
- Zcash vs. Bitcoin Lightning
- OpSec
- Using Zcash in Practice
- Viewing Keys: Selective Disclosure
- Project Tachyon: The Future
- Security FAQs
- Historical Context
- Governance & Development
- Contributing
One sentence: Zcash is encrypted money using zero-knowledge proofs. Monero uses decoys (probabilistic). Bitcoin is transparent. Zcash uses math (absolute).
Key Facts:
- ✅ True cryptographic privacy via zk-SNARKs (zero-knowledge proofs)
- ✅ Trustless - No trusted setup required (Orchard/Halo 2)
- ✅ Scalable - Project Tachyon enables billions of users
- ✅ Anonymity set: 5.57+ million vs. Monero's 16
- ✅ Transaction fees: < $0.01
- ✅ Supply cap: 21 million ZEC (same as Bitcoin)
Freedom and safety begin with privacy. No one should be forced to expose their income, spending, or net worth just to transact. Not to corporations. Not to governments. Not to bad actors. Not to anyone.
The Reality:
- When your money is tracked, your freedom is capped and your safety is at risk
- Surveillance money gives tyrants and criminals leverage
- Private money disarms them
- Privacy isn't secrecy. It's autonomy and safety.
The Goal: Unstoppable private money at scale.
Before you buy a single coin, you need to understand how crypto actually works. Most people lose money not because of "hackers," but because they don't understand keys.
In traditional banking, the bank protects your money. If you lose your password, they reset it.
In Zcash, YOU are the bank.
When you create a wallet, you will get a list of 12 or 24 words.
⚠️ This IS your money. It is not a "password recovery" tool. It is the literal keys to the vault.- 📝 Rule #1: Write it down on paper. Never screenshot it. Never save it in Apple Notes or Google Drive. If your phone is hacked, your money is gone.
- 🔒 Rule #2: If you lose your phone and these words, your money is gone forever. No one—not Zooko, not the Zcash Foundation—can help you.
| Type | Description | Best For | Risk Level |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hot Wallet (Software) | App on your phone (like Zashi) | "Spending money" ($10–$500) | Higher - Connected to internet |
| Cold Wallet (Hardware) | Physical device (like Keystone) | "Savings" ($1,000+) | Lower - Keys never touch internet |
Zashi is the official wallet built by the Electric Coin Company. It's the new standard for Zcash.
Why it's the best:
- 🛡️ Auto-shielding: Automatically converts transparent (public) ZEC to private
- 🔒 No metadata leakage to RPC nodes
- 📱 Clean UI that anyone can use
- ✅ Shielded by default
Download: Official Website
⏱️ First-Time Setup Note: When you first open Zashi (or any shielded wallet), it needs to "scan" the blockchain to find your transactions. This can take a few minutes depending on your connection. This is normal—the wallet is searching through encrypted data to find what belongs to you without revealing anything to servers. Be patient on first sync!
For users storing large amounts long-term, hardware wallets like Keystone offer air-gapped security (QR codes, no USB/Bluetooth) with full shielded Zcash support.
That said: Modern smartphones (especially iPhones and Google Pixels) are already quite secure for most users. The convenience and security of a phone you already own often outweighs the marginal security gain of a hardware wallet.
Recommendation: Start with Zashi on your phone. Only consider hardware wallets if you're holding significant value and comfortable with the extra complexity.
Get Keystone (if needed): keyst.one
Most people destroy their privacy at the very first step by buying from a centralized exchange (Coinbase, Binance) that links their ID to their coins. Don't do this.
To maintain true privacy, you must acquire Zcash without "Know Your Customer" (KYC) checks. Here are the two most reliable, decentralized methods to swap Bitcoin (BTC) or Stablecoins for Native Zcash (ZEC).
This is currently the fastest way to swap BTC
- The Tool: app.near-intents.org
- How it works: You send Bitcoin (or USDC/ETH) to a smart contract vault. A specialized network of "solvers" detects your deposit and instantly sends Native ZEC to your wallet.
- Why it's better:
- No Accounts: You don't sign up. You just trade.
- Native Assets: You receive real ZEC, not a "wrapped" version.
- High Liquidity: Solvers compete to give you the market rate.
ThorChain is famous for native swaps, but it doesn't support Zcash directly yet. However, its "friendly fork" Maya Protocol does. You can access Maya using standard interfaces like ThorSwap.
- The Tools:
- ThorSwap: Go to thorswap.finance and ensure you are routing via "Maya Protocol".
- LeoDex: A Zcash-focused interface for the same liquidity.
- The Process:
- Connect your Bitcoin wallet.
- Input your Zcash Transparent Address (starts with
t1...) as the recipient.- Note: Cross-chain swaps usually settle to transparent addresses.
- Swap. The protocol sends BTC in, and Native ZEC comes out.
- Critical Security Step: Once the ZEC arrives in your wallet (Zashi/Keystone), it will be visible publicly. You must "Shield" it immediately. (Zashi does this automatically).
For advanced users, you can buy ZEC directly from another person.
- Bisq: A decentralized desktop app. You buy ZEC using bank transfers or money orders. No ID required, but slower and lower liquidity.
Since most No-KYC swaps (like Maya) settle to a Transparent Address (t-addr), your acquisition is momentarily visible on-chain.
- Receive: Funds arrive in your wallet's transparent address.
- Auto-Shield: Open Zashi. It will detect the transparent funds and ask to "Shield" them.
- Click Confirm: The funds move to your Shielded Address (
z-addr).- Now the trail is broken. When you spend these coins later, the history is mathematically erased.
Zcash uses zero-knowledge proofs, specifically zk-SNARKs, to enable fully private transactions.
Key Difference:
- Monero: Uses decoys to obscure the real transaction
- Zcash: Reveals nothing (hence "zero" in zero-knowledge)
What's Hidden:
- Sender address ✅
- Receiver address ✅
- Amount transferred ✅
The protocol proves a transaction is valid without revealing the data.
Old-school zk-SNARKs were heavy, slow, and required trust. Zcash evolved past them.
With the Halo 2 proof system and soon Project Tachyon, Zcash can now scale to billions of users without:
- Servers knowing anything about transactions
- Compromising speed
- Sacrificing privacy
Zcash gives you a choice:
| Type | Privacy Level | Use Case | Address Prefix |
|---|---|---|---|
| Transparent (t-addr) | Public like Bitcoin | Legacy compatibility, exchange deposits | t1... or t3... |
| Shielded Sapling (z-addr) | Fully encrypted (legacy) | Private transactions | zs1... |
| Unified Address (UA) | Smart routing, modern standard | Recommended for all use | u1... |
Address Format Examples:
Transparent: t1abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz...
Sapling: zs1abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz...
Unified: u1abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz...
How to Identify Addresses in the Wild:
- Starts with
u1...→ Modern unified address (best choice) - Starts with
zs1...→ Legacy shielded address (still private) - Starts with
t1...ort3...→ Transparent address (public, avoid reusing)
Modern wallets like Zashi now auto-shield funds, ensuring privacy "just works."
Zcash has evolved through three major shielded pools:
| Pool | Year | Status | Key Feature | Trust Model |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sprout | 2016 | Deprecated | First privacy chain using zk-SNARKs | Trusted setup required (Snowden ceremony) |
| Sapling | 2018 | Sunsetting | 100x more efficient, mobile-friendly | Trusted setup with multi-party ceremony |
| Orchard | 2022 | Active | Built on Halo 2 - Fully trustless | No ceremonies, no trust anchors needed |
- Sprout proved privacy was possible
- Sapling made it usable
- Orchard made it unstoppable
We can't know who's using shielded ZEC (by design), but we can measure how much ZEC is shielded:
Shielded ZEC is rising fast due to:
- Zashi forcing shielding before spending
- Hardware wallets (Keystone) now supporting shielded transactions
- Mobile-first UX making privacy "just work"
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| Maximum Supply | 21,000,000 ZEC (same as Bitcoin) |
| Current Circulating Supply | ~16.8 million ZEC (as of 2025) |
| Block Time | ~75 seconds (vs. Bitcoin's 10 minutes) |
| Halving Schedule | Every ~4 years (similar to Bitcoin) |
- Algorithm: Equihash (memory-hard, ASIC-resistant initially)
- Current State: ASICs now exist but network remains decentralized
- Consensus: Proof-of-Work (PoW)
20% of block rewards go to development, distributed to:
- Electric Coin Company (ECC)
- Zcash Foundation
- Community grants
Why this matters:
- Unlike Bitcoin's volunteer model, Zcash has sustained professional development
- Funds are public and accountable
- Ensures continuous innovation (e.g., Halo 2, Project Tachyon)
A common debate is between Zcash (encryption) and Monero (decoys). Here's the technical reality:
📊 Quick Comparison Table (Click to expand full analysis)
| Feature | Zcash (Orchard) | Monero |
|---|---|---|
| Anonymity Set | 5.57+ million notes (all notes ever created) | 16 (1 real + 15 decoys) |
| Privacy Model | Cryptographic (zero-knowledge) | Probabilistic (decoys) |
| Privacy Decay | None - no decoys to rule out | Yes - decoys can be eliminated over time |
| Wallet Leakage | None - proofs built client-side | Can leak to RPC nodes |
| Defined By | Merkle tree commitment | Protocol rule + sampling algorithm |
| Grows Over Time | Yes, monotonically | No, fixed at 16 |
How Monero Works:
- Mixes your transaction with 15 decoys (fake transactions)
- Uses Ring Signatures to obscure which input is real
⚠️ The Flaws (Click to expand detailed analysis)
1. Probabilistic Privacy ≠ Cryptographic Privacy
- Chainalysis reportedly traces 65% of Monero transactions
- 15% more with partial success
- Privacy depends on user behavior and luck, not math
2. Privacy Decays Over Time
- As other users spend their coins, they inadvertently reveal which inputs were decoys
- Your privacy erodes retroactively
- Historical transactions become less private over time
3. Blockchain Bloat
- Decoys increase transaction size significantly
- Chain grows faster → harder to run full nodes
- Undermines decentralization
4. Wallet Metadata Leakage
- Monero wallets can leak info to RPC nodes revealing which decoys are real
- Must run your own node to be safe (adds complexity and cost)
How Zcash Works:
- Uses a Merkle tree containing every note ever created
- Zero-knowledge proof: "This note exists in the tree and hasn't been spent"
- No decoys to fail
Comparison:
| Feature | Zcash (Orchard) | Monero |
|---|---|---|
| Anonymity Set | 5.57+ million notes (all notes ever created) | 16 (1 real + 15 decoys) |
| Privacy Model | Cryptographic (zero-knowledge) | Probabilistic (decoys) |
| Privacy Decay | None - no decoys to rule out | Yes - decoys can be eliminated over time |
| Wallet Leakage | None - proofs built client-side | Can leak to RPC nodes |
| Defined By | Merkle tree commitment | Protocol rule + sampling algorithm |
| Grows Over Time | Yes, monotonically | No, fixed at 16 |
🔍 Real-World Evidence of Monero's Privacy Failures (Click to expand)
Monero's Privacy Compromised:
- 2025: Japanese police analyzed Monero transactions to arrest 18 scammers
- Ongoing: Chain analysis firms can trace majority of transactions
- Wired Article on Monero Privacy Limitations
Even Monero Developers Acknowledge This:
- Monero devs are exploring migration to zero-knowledge proofs
- They recognize probabilistic privacy isn't future-proof
- Zooko: "The Monero devs are trying to upgrade Monero to have the strong kind of privacy—basically modeled on the Zcash style."
Many Bitcoin maximalists say "I don't need Zcash, I have Lightning." Here's why they're different:
What it offers:
- Low fees (fractions of a cent)
- Fast transactions
- Obfuscation (harder to track)
Limitations:
- "Hot" Privacy: Must be online to receive funds
- Watchtowers monitor the network
- Channel management: Requires liquidity balancing
- Not encrypted: Offers obfuscation, not encryption
What it offers:
- Tiny fees (< $0.01)
- "Cold" Privacy: Can receive 10 million ZEC into unplugged hardware wallet
- Mathematically invisible: Funds are encrypted, not just obfuscated
- No channel management: Direct on-chain transactions
Verdict: Lightning offers convenience. Zcash offers cryptographic privacy. Different tools for different needs.
Using Zcash gives you cryptographic privacy (the math works), but you can leak data through behavior (human error).
The Problem:
- Even if the blockchain can't see what you bought, your ISP can see that you're using Zcash
- ISPs see your IP address connecting to the Zcash network
- They can infer "User X sent a transaction at 12:00 PM"
The Solution:
- Use a trusted VPN like Mullvad or ProtonVPN
- Hides your IP from the ISP
- Always run it when using Zashi
- Route traffic through Tor for maximum anonymity
- Zcash full nodes support Tor natively
- Mobile users: Use system-wide VPN/Tor setup
| Address Type | Can Reuse? | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Shielded (z-addr) | ✅ Safe | Math protects you |
| Transparent (t-addr) | ❌ NEVER | Every transaction permanently linked to your identity |
| Unified (UA) | ✅ Safe | Modern standard, auto-prefers private path |
⚠️ CRITICAL WARNING: If you post a transparent address on Twitter/social media to receive donations, every transaction to that address is permanently linked to your public identity. This cannot be undone. Use shielded or unified addresses only.
- Use VPN when transacting
- Never reuse transparent addresses
- Use unified addresses (UAs) for receiving
- Store seed phrase on paper, not digitally
- Use hardware wallet for large amounts
- Auto-shield all incoming funds (Zashi does this)
- Don't link transparent addresses to social media
Gift Cards & Online Shopping:
- BitRefill: Buy gift cards for Amazon, Uber, Netflix, etc.
- Coincards: Wide selection of retailer gift cards
- eGifter: Gift cards for major brands
Travel:
- Travala: Book hotels and flights with ZEC
Direct Merchants: Growing list of merchants accepting ZEC directly
One of Zcash's most powerful features that distinguishes it from Monero: viewing keys.
Viewing keys allow you to give someone the ability to see your transactions without being able to spend your funds.
- Tax Compliance: Share with accountant to prove income/expenses
- Auditing: Prove solvency to auditors without compromising spending security
- Business Transparency: Show revenue to partners without giving control
- Regulatory Compliance: Demonstrate compliance to regulators when required
- Full Viewing Key: See all transactions in/out of an address
- Incoming Viewing Key: See only incoming transactions
- Outgoing Viewing Key: See only outgoing transactions
One sentence: Selective disclosure without compromising custody.
Key Advantage Over Monero: Monero offers no equivalent feature. With Zcash, you can have privacy AND provable transparency when needed.
Project Tachyon is a new architecture from Zcash cryptographer Sean Bowe designed to bring private money to everyone on Earth.
Today's Trade-off:
- Fast sync = Server sees your data
- Private sync = Slow and resource-intensive
Most wallets offload work to remote servers:
- ✅ Convenient
- ❌ Server sees everything
Tachyon uses novel cryptography to let untrusted servers help without learning anything.
Key Innovations:
- Oblivious Synchronization: Your wallet syncs fast, server can't tell what's yours
- Parallel Processing: Removes state contention around nullifier set
- Weightless Blockchain: Data deleted after recursive proofs are generated
The Result:
- No trade-off between privacy and usability
- No bottlenecks
- No giving up control for performance
"The blockchain data itself is deleted after the recursive ZKPs over it are generated! The blockchain disappears. It becomes weightless." — Zooko Wilcox
Impact:
- Scale to billions of users
- Mobile-first privacy that "just works"
- Unstoppable private money at scale
Learn More:
Turnstiles reconcile privacy with transparency in Zcash's shielded pools.
How They Work:
- Every shielded pool has an accounting gate
- Tracks how much ZEC enters or leaves the pool
- Doesn't reveal who sent or received anything
- Ensures no extra coins can "sneak" in
Why They Matter:
- Critical for pools with trusted setups (Sprout/Sapling)
- If a cryptographic flaw existed, any inflation would be detectable
- Provides security even in privacy-preserving system
No.
Evidence:
- ✅ Open-source from day one
- ✅ Audited by multiple third-party security researchers
- ✅ Early versions (Sprout/Sapling) used multi-party trusted setup secured by ceremony
- ✅ Orchard (current) requires no trust assumptions - truly trustless
Understanding the "Trusted Setup" Risk:
Early Zcash pools (Sprout and Sapling) used a cryptographic ceremony to generate public parameters. This process created what's called "toxic waste" - secret randomness that, if preserved by participants, could theoretically be used to create fake coins undetectably.
How the risk was mitigated:
- Multi-party ceremony with hundreds of participants
- Only ONE participant needed to destroy their toxic waste honestly
- Ceremony involved high-profile figures (Edward Snowden for Sprout)
- Participants used creative destruction methods (blowtorches, blenders, etc.)
Why Orchard changed everything:
- Halo 2 proof system requires no trusted setup at all
- No ceremony needed
- No toxic waste generated
- Completely trustless from the cryptography up
This is why Orchard represents such a massive upgrade - it removes the last theoretical trust assumption from the system.
Historical Reasons:
- Early UX complexity
- Mobile unfriendliness
- Legacy wallet defaults
Current State:
- Zashi enforces shielding by default
- Auto-shields funds before allowing spends
- Modern wallets make privacy "just work"
Technical Advantage:
- Zcash's optional transparency actually enables:
- Exchange compatibility (KYC requirements)
- Gradual migration to privacy
- Viewing keys for selective disclosure
- Better real-world adoption path
Shielded transactions: No.
- Zero-knowledge proofs reveal nothing
- Sender, receiver, amount all cryptographically hidden
- Anonymity set of 5.57+ million notes
Transparent transactions: Yes.
- Like Bitcoin, fully public
- This is why auto-shielding is critical
Best Practice: Always use shielded addresses (z-addr or Unified Addresses).
Zcash isn't just "another altcoin." It has deep roots in the history of money and cryptography.
📜 Zooko & Satoshi: The Connection (Click to expand)
Zooko Wilcox (Zcash founder) was one of the few people Satoshi Nakamoto actually corresponded with.
Timeline:
- 1990s: Zooko created Mojo Nation, worked on DigiCash
- 2009: When Satoshi launched Bitcoin, Zooko was the first person to blog about it
- Early days: Satoshi referenced Zooko's work in emails, discussed difficulty of adding privacy to Bitcoin
🎓 Academic Origins: Built by Scientists, Not Bros (Click to expand)
Zcash wasn't built by "crypto bros"—it was built by scientists.
The Zerocash Whitepaper:
- Written by professors from Johns Hopkins, MIT, Tel Aviv University
- Key contributors: Alessandro Chiesa, Matthew Green, Eli Ben-Sasson
- Published in IEEE Security & Privacy (peer-reviewed)
Scientific Foundation:
- Based on decades of cryptographic research
- Zero-knowledge proofs have been studied since the 1980s
- Zcash brought them to production at scale
Unlike Bitcoin's volunteer model, Zcash has structured, transparent funding:
Development Fund (20% of block rewards):
- Electric Coin Company (ECC): Protocol development, wallets
- Zcash Foundation: Decentralized governance, grants
- Community Grants: Third-party developers and researchers
Electric Coin Company (ECC):
- Founded by Zooko Wilcox
- Builds core protocol, Zashi wallet
- Conducts research (Halo 2, Tachyon)
Zcash Foundation:
- Independent nonprofit
- Focuses on decentralization
- Runs grants program
- Community governance
Nighthawk Apps:
- Independent mobile wallet developer
- Community-focused tools
- ZIP Process: Zcash Improvement Proposals (like Bitcoin's BIPs)
- Community Forum: Open discussion and feedback
- Foundation Governance: Community-elected board
- Transparent Development: All code open-source on GitHub
We welcome contributions to improve this guide!
- Keep technical accuracy as top priority
- Cite sources for claims
- Maintain neutral, educational tone
- Update the Table of Contents if adding sections
- Test all links before submitting
Response: See this clarification by Gen Zcash. Zooko was referring to transparent transactions or cases where operational security was poor. Properly used shielded transactions remain private.
Response: No evidence exists for this. The code is open-source and audited. The current Orchard pool requires no trusted setup. This claim often stems from misunderstanding the early Sprout trusted ceremony.
Response:
- Monero's "privacy" is probabilistic (decoys), not cryptographic
- Anonymity set of 16 vs. Zcash's 5.57+ million
- Modern Zcash wallets (Zashi) enforce shielding by default
- Zcash's optional transparency enables viewing keys and better exchange compatibility
Response:
- Some exchanges have delisted in specific jurisdictions
- DEXs and P2P swaps provide alternatives
- Privacy is a fundamental right; banning the tools doesn't eliminate the need
- The same arguments were made about encryption in the 1990s (Crypto Wars)
If this guide helped you understand Zcash, consider:
- ⭐ Starring this repository
- 🔄 Sharing with others who need privacy
- 💬 Contributing improvements
Privacy is not about having something to hide. It's about having something to protect.
In a world of increasing surveillance, Zcash represents a mathematical guarantee that your financial life remains yours. Not for corporations to exploit. Not for governments to control. Not for anyone to weaponize.
Unstoppable private money for everyone.
