Zcash is a privacy-preserving cryptocurrency providing anonymous value transfer using zero-knowledge cryptography. The protocol provides the option for transactions to be either shielded, in which case they will be completely anonymous, or transparent, in which case they will be visible on the Zcash blockchain. Zcash pays out a portion of its block rewards, called the "Founder's Reward", to fund protocol development. It currently allocates the Founder's Reward to the Electric Coin Company and the Zcash Foundation who develop and steward the Zcash protocol respectively.

Zcash

Overview

Financials

Onchain Activity

Privacy

Mining

DeFi Footprint

Zcash - Overview

Total Volume measures the aggregate value of all transactions settled on the Zcash blockchain, representing the economic activity flowing through the network. This includes value moving through transparent addresses (similar to Bitcoin), value entering or exiting shielded pools (shielding and deshielding operations), and fully private transfers within shielded pools. The volume calculation follows consensus rules where for each transaction, the amount transferred equals the sum of all outputs—both transparent outputs and value moving into shielded pools. For shielding transactions, the volume is the amount being shielded; for deshielding, it's the amount being unshielded; and for transparent transactions, it's simply the sum of recipient outputs.

Total transfer volume settled by the Zcash network

Zcash: Total Transfer Volume

Zcash supports two types of transactions: transparent transactions where addresses and amounts are publicly visible like Bitcoin, and shielded transactions that use zero-knowledge cryptography to keep this information private. The network organizes funds into separate chain value pools—think of these as different ledgers that each use a specific protocol for handling transactions.

**Transparent**: The public pool that works exactly like Bitcoin, where anyone can see addresses and transaction amounts on the blockchain.

**Sprout**: Zcash's original privacy protocol from the October 2016 launch, using addresses that start with "zc". This pool is now deprecated and stopped accepting new funds in November 2020.

**Sapling**: An improved privacy protocol from October 2018 with addresses starting with "zs". Sapling made shielded transactions fast enough for mobile wallets while maintaining strong privacy.

**Orchard**: The newest and most efficient privacy protocol, activated in May 2022. Orchard is part of unified addresses (starting with "u1") that can receive funds to multiple pools from a single address.

The chart displays three metrics: shielded transactions (only the private transactions across Sprout, Sapling, and Orchard pools), total transactions (which includes coinbase mining transactions, transparent transactions, and all shielded transactions), and transactions per second (TPS) showing network throughput.

Shielded and total transaction counts across chain value pools

Zcash: Transactions

Shielded Supply tracks the total amount of ZEC held in the network's privacy-preserving shielded pools, where transaction amounts and ownership are cryptographically hidden rather than publicly visible like Bitcoin. Zcash has evolved through three generations of shielded technology, each improving on the last.

**Sprout**: The original privacy protocol launched with Zcash in October 2016, identifiable by addresses starting with "zc". Sprout required significant computational resources and is no longer supported for sending funds after the November 2020 Canopy upgrade.

**Sapling**: Arrived in October 2018 with dramatic improvements—transactions became much faster to create and small enough that mobile wallets could handle them, making privacy practical for everyday use through addresses starting with "zs".

**Orchard**: Activated in May 2022 as the latest and most efficient protocol, offering the strongest privacy guarantees and introducing unified addresses (starting with "u1") that let users receive funds to multiple pool types from a single address.

The metric is measured in both ZEC and USD to show both the absolute amount of funds using privacy features and their economic value, providing insight into privacy adoption on the network as users have progressively migrated from Sprout to Sapling and now to Orchard.

Total ZEC in shielded pools and their share of circulating supply

Zcash: Shielded Supply

Network REV (Real Economic Value) measures user demand to transact on the Zcash blockchain through the fees paid for transaction execution. Like Bitcoin, Zcash has no out-of-protocol tips or MEV, meaning transaction fees constitute the entire Network REV. 

What distinguishes Zcash is its support for both transparent transactions (similar to Bitcoin) and shielded transactions that use advanced cryptography to preserve user privacy. The fee structure must account for both types of operations, as shielded transactions require significantly more computational resources to validate.

Zcash's fee structure underwent a major evolution with the implementation of ZIP 317 in April 2023 (version 5.5.0). Prior to this, fees were calculated based on transaction size in bytes, similar to Bitcoin. The new model introduced a more sophisticated approach where fees are based on the number of operations within a transaction—such as sending funds, receiving funds, or moving value between transparent and shielded pools. Each operation costs 5,000 zatoshis (0.00005 ZEC), with a minimum fee of 10,000 zatoshis for any transaction. This change made fees more predictable and fairly reflected the actual computational work required to process different transaction types. The implementation was progressively strengthened through mid-2023, with version 6.0.0 (September 2023) requiring all transactions to pay these conventional fees, eliminating the previous allowance for discounted transactions.

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