Zcash (ZEC)
17.04.2026
Zcash (ZEC) is a privacy-focused proof-of-work cryptocurrency launched on October 28, 2016, by the Electric Coin Company (ECC) under founder Zooko Wilcox-O'Hearn. It's built on the Zerocash protocol (2014 academic paper by Ben-Sasson, Chiesa, Garman, Green, Miers, Tromer, and Virza) and is the flagship deployment of zk-SNARK cryptography in production.
Key facts
| Parameter | Value |
|---|---|
| Ticker | ZEC |
| Algorithm | Equihash 200,9 |
| Block time | 75 seconds (since Blossom, 2019) |
| Max supply | 21,000,000 ZEC |
| Halvings | Every ~4 years |
| Current block reward | 1.5625 ZEC (after Nov 2024 halving) |
| Launch | October 28, 2016 |
Privacy model
Zcash supports two address types:
- Transparent addresses (t-addr) — public like Bitcoin, prefixed
t1/t3 - Shielded addresses — private via zk-SNARKs, hiding sender, receiver, and amount. Evolved across shielded pools: Sprout (deprecated), Sapling (
zs1), and Orchard (Halo 2, activated in NU5, May 2022) - Unified Addresses (UA) — single string bundling Orchard + Sapling + transparent receivers (ZIP 316)
Historically, the majority of ZEC volume was transparent (t→t), drawing criticism. The push for "shielded by default" wallets (ECC's Zashi) and the Orchard pool has been steadily shifting balances into shielded form.
Mining Zcash
Equihash 200,9 is memory-hard but has been dominated by ASICs since 2018. Competitive hardware as of 2026:
- Bitmain Antminer Z15, Z15 Pro, Z15e
- Innosilicon A9++ ZMaster
GPU mining is no longer viable. Kryptex Pool supports Zcash via our ZEC pool.
Network upgrades
- Blossom (Dec 2019) — halved block time to 75s
- Canopy (Nov 2020) — first halving; 20% dev fund split (ECC / ZF / ZCG grants) replacing the original Founders' Reward
- NU5 (May 2022) — Orchard shielded pool, Halo 2 recursive proofs, Unified Addresses
- NU6 (block 2,726,400, ~November 23, 2024) — second halving (3.125 → 1.5625 ZEC), new dev fund split: 8% to Zcash Community Grants, 12% to an on-chain Lockbox (ZIP 1015)
- NU6.1 — follow-up upgrade refining the NU6 mechanism
Transition to Proof-of-Stake
ECC and the Zcash Foundation are moving Zcash toward proof-of-stake under the Crosslink design. The Trailing Finality Layer (TFL) shipped in late 2025, providing economic finality as a first step. The planned path is PoW → PoW+TFL hybrid → pure PoS, with a target of roughly a 40/40 issuance split between miners and stakers during the hybrid phase. Hardening and audits are scheduled through 2026 before full activation.
For miners, this means Equihash mining remains current in 2026 — but long-term exposure should account for the hybrid transition.
