Zcash (ZEC) is a decentralized cryptocurrency launched in October 2016 by the Electric Coin Company, founded by cryptographer Zooko Wilcox. It was the first cryptocurrency to implement zk-SNARKs (Zero-Knowledge Succinct Non-Interactive Arguments of Knowledge) — a breakthrough in cryptographic privacy that allows transactions to be verified without revealing any information about them.
Zcash has a fixed supply of 21 million ZEC (identical to Bitcoin) and uses the same Proof-of-Work consensus mechanism, but with a critical addition: the ability to make transactions completely private.
💡 Key fact: Zcash was created by some of the same cryptographers who worked on Bitcoin's privacy research. The zk-SNARK technology it uses has since been adopted by Ethereum and many other blockchains.
A zk-SNARK is a mathematical proof that lets you prove you know something (like a valid transaction) without revealing what that something is. Applied to Zcash, this means:
Zcash has two types of addresses:
⚠️ Important: The majority of Zcash transactions currently use t-addresses (transparent), not z-addresses. Only shielded transactions provide privacy. Always use a z-address if privacy is your goal.
| Feature | Zcash (ZEC) | Bitcoin (BTC) |
|---|---|---|
| Privacy option | ✅ Optional shielded transactions | ❌ No native privacy |
| Supply cap | 21 million ZEC | 21 million BTC |
| Transaction privacy | ✅ z-address: fully private | ❌ Fully public |
| Consensus | Proof of Work (Equihash) | Proof of Work (SHA-256) |
| Block time | ~75 seconds | ~10 minutes |
| Founder's reward | Dev fund (20% of mining rewards) | None |
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