Zcash shielded supply hits 4.5 million ZEC as privacy narrative reignites and token surges 7x
Summary
The Zcash network's shielded supply has surged to 4.5 million ZEC, accompanied by a significant price appreciation from $50 in September to over $350, driven by renewed attention to privacy-focused cryptocurrencies. Shielded supply represents ZEC tokens held in private addresses utilizing zero-knowledge proofs (zk-SNARKs) across its Sprout, Sapling, and Orchard protocols, with the recent growth largely attributed to the Orchard implementation. This increase indicates growing user trust in Zcash's optional privacy features, as shielding coins expands the network's anonymity set, thereby strengthening privacy for all users. While this trend reinforces the network's core value proposition, concentrating supply in shielded pools could potentially complicate price discovery and attract regulatory scrutiny.
(Source:The Block)