ZEC $1,246.7924H +1.04%CAP $21.21BRANK #10BLOCK 3,539,310GRANTS 144 ZEC PER DAYCOINHOLDER FUND 216 ZEC PER DAYISSUANCE 1,800 ZEC PER DAYPRICE AS OF 12:53 UTC 2026-11-02ZEC $1,246.7924H +1.04%CAP $21.21BRANK #10BLOCK 3,539,310GRANTS 144 ZEC PER DAYCOINHOLDER FUND 216 ZEC PER DAYISSUANCE 1,800 ZEC PER DAYPRICE AS OF 12:53 UTC 2026-11-02
zcashupdates

Zcash, explained.

Digital money you can choose to keep private. How it works, where it came from and the words you'll meet, in plain language.

29.2% shielded70.3% transparent

The other 0.4% is the lockbox, a reserve for development funding.

In one minuteHow it worksThe storyWho builds itQuantum computersGlossary

In one minute

How it works

Two kinds of address

t1Rv…9fATransparent. Anyone can see the balance and every payment, like Bitcoin.
u1qz…7kdShielded. Sender, receiver and amount are encrypted.

A unified address, starting u1, bundles both kinds, and a modern wallet pays its shielded part. Older shielded addresses start zs (Sapling) or zc (Sprout).

Ironwood, 97 days old, holds 85% of shielded ZEC

At block 3,539,307, 2 Nov 2026. Each pool's balance, read from the chain.

Bars are to scale, out of all 17.02M ZEC. Each pool's total is public even when its payments are private, and no pool may go below zero (the turnstile), so no more ZEC can come out of a pool than went in. That is how anyone can audit the supply. Live pool data.

Zero-knowledge proofs
A way to prove something is true without revealing the facts behind it, like proving you're over 21 without showing your licence. Zcash was the first real-world use; its proofs are called zk-SNARKs.
Memos
Every shielded payment can carry an encrypted note of up to 512 bytes that only the receiver can read. Memos and viewing keys.
Viewing keys
Let someone, like an accountant, see a wallet's shielded payments without being able to spend from it.
Mining and supply
Miners secure the chain with Equihash, a memory-hard proof of work. Today a block every 75 seconds pays 1.5625 ZEC. After NU7, a block every 25 seconds will pay about 0.52 ZEC.
No more trusted setup
Sprout and Sapling proofs needed a one-time ceremony, safe if at least one participant was honest. Orchard and Ironwood use Halo 2, which needs none.

The story, 2016 to 2026

Zcash changes through network upgrades that switch on at a set block. These are the ones that mattered.

A new shielded pool, in its colour aboveOther upgrades

Who builds it

ZODLZcash Open Development Lab: the former Electric Coin Company team, which created and launched Zcash in 2016. Led by Josh Swihart since Feb 2026, it makes the Zodl wallet, formerly Zashi.
Zcash FoundationA nonprofit that builds Zebra, the main node, and runs the improvement-proposal process and the Zcon conference.
Zcash Community GrantsGets 8% of new ZEC until the third halving and funds independent teams, chosen by a five-person committee the community elects. Every grant.
Shielded LabsA donation-funded support group in Switzerland, the first in the ecosystem never to take money from the dev fund.
CoinholdersSince Nov 2025, ZEC holders direct the 12% fund by shielded vote: 1 Ironwood ZEC is 1 vote, and a vote needs 420,000 ZEC to count. Votes and upgrades.

Is Zcash safe from quantum computers?

Not yet, and its developers say so. Here's what they have done, and what you can do.

Glossary

Shielded
ZEC whose sender, receiver and amount are encrypted on the blockchain.
Transparent
ZEC on public addresses (starting t1 or t3) where balances and transfers are visible to anyone, like Bitcoin.
Pool
The separate bucket each kind of ZEC sits in: transparent, Sprout, Sapling, Orchard or Ironwood. Each pool's total is public.
Sprout
Zcash's first shielded protocol, from 2016, with addresses starting zc. As NU7 is drafted, it becomes unspendable.
Sapling
The 2018 shielded protocol, with addresses starting zs, that made private payments fast enough for phones.
Orchard
The 2022 shielded protocol built on Halo 2. Since July 2026 it is sealed: coins can only leave it.
Ironwood
The shielded pool created on 28 Jul 2026, with a corrected circuit and quantum-recoverable notes. Shielded ZEC lives here now.
Unified address
One address, starting u1, that bundles several kinds, so the sender's wallet can pick the most private one.
Memo
A private 512-byte note attached to a shielded payment that only the receiver can read.
Viewing key
A key that lets someone see a shielded wallet's transactions without being able to spend from it.
zk-SNARK
A short zero-knowledge proof that convinces the network a transaction is valid without revealing its details.
Halo 2
The proof system behind Orchard and Ironwood. It needs no trusted setup.
Trusted setup
A one-time ceremony that created the parameters for older proof systems. It is safe if at least one participant destroyed their secret.
Turnstile
The rule that no pool's balance may go below zero, so no more ZEC can leave a shielded pool than went in.
Halving
The roughly four-yearly cut in half of new ZEC per block. The next is about Nov 2028.
Network upgrade (NU)
A scheduled change to Zcash's rules that activates at a set block. Nodes that don't upgrade fall off the main chain.
Lockbox
The in-protocol pot that collected 12% of block rewards from Nov 2024 to Nov 2025, later handed to coinholder control.
Coinholder fund
The 12% of block rewards, since NU6.1, that ZEC holders direct by shielded vote, with a 420,000 ZEC quorum.
ZIP
A Zcash Improvement Proposal: the public document that specifies a change, published at zips.z.cash.
Light wallet
A wallet, usually on a phone, that syncs compact data from a server instead of storing the whole blockchain.
Full node
Software that downloads and checks every block against the rules. For Zcash today that is Zebra.
NSM
The Network Sustainability Mechanism: under NU7 it holds back part of every fee in a reserve and reissues it slowly, from about 2031.

Sources