Zcash (ZEC) Calculator

Zcash, launched in 2016 from Bitcoin’s codebase, pursues a precise aim: public verifiability with private data, achieved through optional shielded transactions that use zero-knowledge proofs (zk-SNARKs) to protect sender, receiver, and amount while preserving auditability through selective disclosure via viewing keys; it employs the memory-intensive Equihash proof-of-work algorithm, designed to resist specialization and enable broader participation with consumer hardware, though specialized miners later emerged, and its incompatibility with Bitcoin’s SHA-256 hardware reduces cross-network mining centralization; the protocol maintains Bitcoin-like monetary discipline with a fixed 21 million supply and halving events roughly every four years, and allocates block rewards between miners and a development fund (commonly 80% to miners and 20% to support ongoing work via community-approved mechanisms), while a target block time of about 75 seconds accelerates confirmations relative to Bitcoin’s cadence; Zcash offers a dual-rail model with transparent transactions that resemble Bitcoin’s and shielded transactions that encrypt metadata, historically using trusted setup ceremonies (Sprout and Sapling) to establish secure parameters, later superseded for new transactions by NU5 and the Orchard shielded pool (2022), which employ Halo 2 proofs that remove the need for a trusted setup and streamline proving for mobile and low-resource devices; Sapling (2018) had earlier cut proving costs and improved usability, and unified addresses now simplify interoperability across transparent and shielded pools to encourage wider privacy adoption; the project’s governance has evolved through open debate among stakeholders, including the Electric Coin Company, the Zcash Foundation, miners, and users, with recurring community discussions on funding allocation and decentralization; research scrutiny has illuminated both strengths and operational pitfalls-such as potential linkability when users move between transparent and shielded pools-driving guidance on best practices and iterative hard forks to harden privacy, improve performance, and reduce friction; in method, Zcash is conservative where monetary assurances matter and experimental where human dignity requires discretion, pairing auditable supply and predictable issuance with a calibrated right to transact without broadcasting one’s financial life to the world.