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HoldingPrivacy coin · Own chain (PoW)
ZEC (Zcash)
Author's status: ActiveUpdated: 2026-09-29
I hold ZEC. My cost is about $1,411 per ZEC.
Valuation
- FDV (fully diluted)
- $24BMarket cap $24B
- Author's cost
- $1,411Now $1,422.46 (+0.8%)
- Note
- There is no protocol revenue, so FDV ÷ revenue cannot be calculated. Almost all supply circulates, so FDV and market cap are nearly the same.
As of 2026-09-29. FDV and price from CoinGecko.
TGE and points
- Current state
- A PoW chain with a 21M supply cap. It halves on the same schedule as Bitcoin; the next halving is expected in November 2028. It is known for shielded transactions using zero-knowledge proofs, which make up about 59% of network transactions.
- TGE
- $ZEC2016-10-28
- Points program
- No points
Team, funding and user base
- Base
- United States (company HQ)
- Founders / leads
- Zooko WilcoxLaunched in 2016. One of the first chains to put zero-knowledge proofs (zk-SNARKs) into practice.
- VC funding
- NoneNo token sale or VC round; ZEC is issued through PoW mining. Development is handled by the Electric Coin Company and the Zcash Foundation.
- X followers
- 84.5K@zcashas of 2026-09-29
Risks and caveats
- Not handled by registered exchanges in Japan. Since Coincheck dropped privacy coins in 2018, none of bitbank, Coincheck, GMO Coin or bitFlyer list it, and it is not on the JVCEA list of coins handled in Japan (as of September 2026). There is no way to buy it directly with yen.
- Very volatile: up about 20x over the past year and about 70% in the last 30 days, yet still about 55% below the $3,191 high set right after the 2016 launch.
- The 2026 rally is attributed mainly to the SEC closing its investigation (January 2026, no action), Grayscale's spot ETF (ZCSH, listed on NYSE Arca on 2026-08-25) and growth in shielded transactions. It could reverse once these catalysts are priced in.
- Privacy coins are prone to regulation in many countries, and the risk of exchange delistings remains.
Links
Sources
This page is for information only and is not a solicitation to use any crypto asset or service. Airdrops and their amounts are not guaranteed, and you may lose the funds you deposit.