$404

Level 02 · Meet Zcash

Meet Zcash.

Digital money with privacy options.

What Zcash and ZEC are, why they were created, how they relate to Bitcoin, and why Zcash offers both transparent and shielded transactions.

8 min3-question checkpointReviewed November 2026

The Missing One relaxes on a pile of golden Z coins beside a sign reading 404 Not Found, ZEC Found.
404 saysFinally, a coin that understands me. Well, it understands that it shouldn’t have to.

BeginnerStart here. No prior knowledge needed.

Zcash is its own blockchain network. ZEC is the cryptocurrency native to it: the coin you send, receive and hold on Zcash. It is not a token living on someone else’s chain.

Zcash launched in October 2016. It was created from Bitcoin’s original codebase, and it builds on Zerocash, a 2014 research protocol published by academic cryptographers. Like Bitcoin, it has a maximum supply of 21 million coins.

The big difference is choice. Bitcoin transactions are public by design. Zcash supports public (transparent) transactions too, but it also offers shielded transactions. These encrypt the sender, recipient, amount and memo on the chain, while the network can still check that everything adds up.

That doesn’t mean every Zcash transaction is shielded. Transparent addresses still exist. Whether a payment is shielded depends on the addresses and wallets involved.

Try it

The same fictional payment, recorded two ways. Then flip the cards for the words you’ll keep meeting.

Public blockchain activity
From
DemoAlice…7Qp2
To
DemoBob…9Lm4
Amount
250.00
Sender balance
4,812.50
History
1,094 earlier transactions

Readable by anyone, forever.

Zcash shielded activity
From
Encrypted encrypted
To
Encrypted encrypted
Amount
Encrypted encrypted
Memo
Encrypted encrypted
Record
Transaction exists · block · fee

Verified by the network. Details sealed.

Illustrative example Fictional values. Zcash also has transparent transactions, which look like the left-hand panel. Shielding isn’t automatic for every transaction.

Zcash words to know · tap a card to flip it

Why does Zcash matter?

Financial privacy is normal almost everywhere else. Your bank doesn’t publish your statement. Zcash brings that default to digital money, and lets you decide when to share.

  • 01
    User choice

    You decide what is public, instead of the ledger deciding for you.

  • 02
    Everyday dignity

    Salary, rent, medical bills and donations aren’t a stranger’s business.

  • 03
    Personal safety

    A balance anyone can see can make its owner a target for scams, or worse.

  • 04
    Selective disclosure

    Viewing keys let you show your shielded history to an accountant or auditor, when you choose to.

  • 05
    Business confidentiality

    Companies don’t publish payroll and supplier payments for competitors to read.

ExploreOptional. Open what you’re curious about.

How Zcash relates to BitcoinZcash protocol fact

Because Zcash started from Bitcoin’s code, a lot will feel familiar: blocks, transparent addresses, a capped supply and a halving schedule for new issuance. What Zcash added is shielded transactions built on zero-knowledge proofs (Level 04).

They are separate networks. You can’t send ZEC to a Bitcoin address, or bitcoin to a Zcash address.

Address types you’ll seeZcash protocol fact

The first characters of a Zcash address tell you what kind it is:

  • t1… or t3…: transparent. Works like Bitcoin, and everything is public.
  • zs1…: a Sapling shielded address.
  • u1…: a unified address. It bundles several receiver types (such as Orchard, Sapling and transparent) into one address, so the sender’s wallet can use the most private option it supports.
Shielded pools, brieflyZcash protocol fact

Shielded ZEC is held in “pools” that improved over time: Sprout (2016, now deprecated), Sapling (2018) and Orchard (2022). Moving value between the transparent side and a shielded pool is visible at the boundary. Level 03 shows exactly what that looks like.

Real-world context

Open by design

Zcash is open-source software. Its rules are written down publicly in the Zcash protocol specification and in Zcash Improvement Proposals (ZIPs), which anyone can read. That openness is the point: the privacy comes from mathematics anyone can check, not from secrets kept by a company.

$404 is an independent community project. It is not affiliated with any Zcash organisation, and they don’t know about us yet. See the official Zcash links and how we relate on the Zcash & Sapling page.

Key takeaways

  1. Zcash is a separate blockchain, and ZEC is its native coin.
  2. It started from Bitcoin’s code and adds optional shielded transactions.
  3. Zcash has both transparent and shielded addresses, so not every transaction is private.
  4. Tokens that represent ZEC on other chains aren’t native ZEC and don’t inherit its shielding.

Knowledge checkpoint · Level 02

Check what stuck

0 / 3 correct

  1. 01What is ZEC?

  2. 02Are all Zcash transactions shielded?

  3. 03A token on Solana that represents ZEC is…

Deep dive

Learning resources

Checked against these sources · reviewed November 2026