Zcash Price

What Is Zcash?

Zcash is a cryptocurrency that lets users choose whether a payment is public or private. Its coin trades under the ticker ZEC. On a public blockchain like Bitcoin's, anyone can see the sender, the receiver and the amount of every transaction. Zcash keeps that option but adds "shielded" transactions, which hide those details while still proving the payment is valid.

Zcash launched on October 28, 2016. It grew out of Zerocash, an academic research paper on private digital payments, and was built by a team of scientists and engineers at the Electric Coin Company (ECC), led by Zooko Wilcox-O'Hearn. ECC and the nonprofit Zcash Foundation have been the two main development groups since then.

The project's pitch is financial privacy: the idea that your payment history shouldn't be visible to every stranger with an internet connection. Critics and regulators focus on the other side of that same feature, which is that hidden payments are harder for law enforcement to trace.

How Zcash Works

Zcash uses proof of work, the same basic model as Bitcoin. Miners run specialized computers to solve a puzzle (Zcash uses an algorithm called Equihash), and the winner adds the next block and earns newly created ZEC. A new block arrives about every 75 seconds.

The supply rules copy Bitcoin's. ZEC has a hard cap of 21 million coins, and the block reward is cut in half roughly every four years. The second halving happened in November 2024.

Privacy comes from zero-knowledge proofs, a kind of cryptography that proves a statement is true without revealing the underlying data. In a shielded transaction, the network can confirm the sender owns the coins and isn't creating money out of thin air, without seeing who sent what to whom. Users can also share a "viewing key" with an auditor or tax preparer to reveal their own history. Shielding is optional. According to Grayscale's annual report on its Zcash fund, about 45% of Zcash transactions through 2025 were fully public.

Zcash also sets aside part of each block reward for development. After network upgrades in 2024 and 2025, miners receive 80% of new ZEC. The other 20% goes to a community grants program and to a fund that ZEC holders help direct, as described in ZIP 1016.

What People Use It For

Most people use ZEC as a payment coin and a store of value with optional privacy. Someone might hold ZEC in a public address on an exchange, then move it into a shielded wallet to keep their balance and spending history out of public view.

Privacy-focused users, including journalists, activists and people in countries with heavy financial surveillance, are the group the project says it was built for. Businesses can use viewing keys to keep payments private from the public while still showing them to auditors.

ZEC also trades as an investment. Since August 2026, US investors can get exposure through an exchange-listed ETF instead of buying the coin directly.

Risks To Know

Regulation is the biggest open question for any privacy coin. The EU's anti-money laundering regulation bars crypto service providers from handling coins with anonymity-enhancing features starting in July 2027. The regulation doesn't say how it treats coins like Zcash, where privacy is optional, so exchanges may read it differently.

Exchanges have dropped ZEC before. Grayscale's filings note delistings at Coinbase UK, Bittrex and OKX, and in January 2024 Binance put a "monitoring tag" on ZEC, its warning that a token is at risk of removal. Some later relisted ZEC, including OKX's global exchange in November 2025, according to OKX's listing announcement.

On the US side, the SEC closed its investigation of the Zcash Foundation in January 2026 without enforcement action, according to the same Grayscale report.

Ownership is concentrated: the 100 largest public wallets held about 46% of circulating ZEC as of early 2026, and shielded holdings can't be measured at all.

How To Buy Zcash

ZEC is available on major US exchanges, including Coinbase, Kraken, Gemini, Bitstamp and Binance.US. Bitstamp's US service stops taking new deposits and purchases on Feb. 1, 2027. International buyers can also find it on OKX's global exchange, Bitget, MEXC and Gate.

If you plan to withdraw to your own wallet, check which address types the exchange supports. Zcash has public addresses (starting with "t") and shielded addresses, and not every platform sends to both, so check the exchange's withdrawal help page before you move coins. US investors who prefer a brokerage account can buy the Grayscale Zcash ETF instead. The table below shows what your money actually gets you at each exchange.

Zcash And Your Taxes

The IRS treats ZEC as property. Selling, trading or spending it triggers a capital gain or loss, with lower long-term rates if you held it more than a year. Mining rewards count as ordinary income when you receive them.

Shielded transactions don't change your tax obligations. You still have to report every sale, so keep your own records, since an exchange may not see what happens inside a shielded wallet. Because a US spot ETF exists, you can also hold ZEC exposure in an IRA. Read more on how crypto taxes work.

FAQ

Is Zcash A Good Investment?

That depends on factors only you can weigh. Zcash has a fixed 21 million supply, a long track record and a US-listed ETF. Against that, privacy coins face more regulatory pressure than most crypto, including an EU rule taking effect in 2027, and some exchanges have delisted ZEC in the past. Consider how a delisting wave would affect you before buying.

What Is The Max Supply Of Zcash?

Zcash has a hard cap of 21 million ZEC, the same as Bitcoin. New coins are created as mining rewards, and the reward is cut in half about every four years. The most recent halving came in November 2024, and the next is expected around 2028 at block 4,406,400.

Who Created Zcash?

A team at the Electric Coin Company, led by computer security researcher Zooko Wilcox-O'Hearn, launched Zcash in October 2016. The technology came from Zerocash, a research paper written by cryptographers at several universities. The Zcash Foundation, a separate nonprofit, also funds and maintains the network's software.

Is Zcash Legal In The US?

Yes. Owning and trading ZEC is legal in the US, and major US exchanges list it. The SEC closed its investigation of the Zcash Foundation in January 2026 without bringing charges. Rules differ abroad, and the EU will bar crypto service providers from handling anonymity-enhancing coins starting in July 2027.

Can I Buy Zcash In An IRA?

Yes. The Grayscale Zcash ETF (ZCSH) began trading on NYSE Arca in August 2026, so you can buy it in a regular brokerage IRA like a stock. Some crypto IRA providers may also let you hold ZEC directly. Compare fees, since ETF expense ratios and crypto IRA platform fees vary widely.

Where Can I Buy Zcash In The US?

Coinbase, Kraken, Gemini, Bitstamp and Binance.US all list ZEC for US customers. Availability can differ by state, so confirm the exchange serves your state before you open an account. Fees and spreads vary from one exchange to the next, so compare the full cost in the table above before you buy. Our ranking of the best crypto exchanges covers each platform in more detail.