What is Zcash?

Zcash is a cryptocurrency launched in 2016 as a fork of Bitcoin's code with one major addition: the ability to shield transactions. Where every Bitcoin payment is visible on a public ledger, a shielded Zcash payment hides the sender, receiver and amount using zero-knowledge proofs (zk-SNARKs), while still letting the network verify that no coins were created from nothing.

What Zcash keeps from Bitcoin

A fixed supply of 21 million coins, proof-of-work mining, and halvings that cut the block reward roughly every four years. The block time is 75 seconds, so the network produces about 1,152 blocks a day.

What is different

• Optional privacy. Transparent addresses (t-addresses) behave like Bitcoin. Shielded addresses (z- and unified addresses) hide the details. Users choose.
• Equihash. The mining algorithm is memory-hard by design. Today it runs on dedicated ASICs such as the Antminer Z15 Pro, not on graphics cards.
• A development fund. A share of each block reward (currently 20%) funds development and grants; miners receive the remaining 1.25 ZEC per block.

Why it matters for a miner

Zcash is one of the few large proof-of-work coins outside Bitcoin with a purpose-built ASIC line, a liquid market and a smaller network than Bitcoin. That combination is why a single Z15 still represents a measurable share of the network, and why the maths can work for individuals rather than only for industrial farms.

Zcash's mission is a private, decentralised monetary system. Ours is to keep mining it accessible so that mission does not end up in the hands of a few large operators. More about Z15 PRO.