Zcash

Privacy technology for blockchains
Zcash is the first open, permissionless financial system employing zero-knowledge security.

The Zcash genesis block will launch in 52 days. Zcash is currently in testnet, with a Beta launch scheduled for September 7, 2016. Our engineering roadmap is publicly available here. If anyone says that they will pay you Zcash before October 28, 2016, then there must be some mistake, because Zcash will not exist until then.

Please note, Zcash is still an experimental technology, and this is only the beginning of its (hopefully) long life. It is based on peer-reviewed cryptographic research, and built by a world-class, security-focused engineering team, but there is risk involved. We are consistently focused on building and maintaining an open, permissionless system that is viable, robust, and justifiably reliable and secure for users.

Visit the technology page to learn more about the Zcash protocol, and how to join the Zcash community.

All coins are created equal.

WHAT IS ZCASH?

Zcash offers total payment confidentiality, while still maintaining a decentralized network using a public blockchain. Unlike Bitcoin, Zcash transactions automatically hide the sender, recipient, and value of all transactions on the blockchain. Only those with the correct view key can see the contents. Users have complete control and can opt-in to provide others with their view key at their discretion.

Zcash transactions do not depend on the cooperation of other parties.

HOW DOES IT WORK?

Since the contents of Zcash transactions are encrypted and private, the system uses a novel cryptographic method to verify payments.

Zcash uses a zero-knowledge proof construction called a zk-SNARK, developed by our team of experienced cryptographers. These constructions allow the network to maintain a secure ledger of balances without disclosing the parties or amounts involved. Instead of publicly demonstrating spend-authority and transaction values, the transaction metadata is encrypted and zk-SNARKs are used to prove that nobody is cheating or stealing.