ZEC
Zcash · Private money
Key facts
- Circulating 17.0M, 81%
- Not yet issued 4.0M, 19%
- Max 21.0M
Market data: CoinGecko, Oct 24, 2026. Scores reviewed Oct 23, 2026.
Assessment
Zcash's engine is monetary: 29.2% of supply sits in shielded pools, while no protocol revenue reaches holders by design. Supply follows a 21M cap with halvings, ~3.9%/yr now, and coinholders voted 98.9% on Sep 14, 2026 to keep halvings, the next in 2028. There was no VC coin sale; founders' reward and dev-fund streams to named organizations total ~19% of all ZEC issued. The track record reaches ten years on Oct 28, 2026, and one US ETF holds $681M. What holds it back is security: one client (Zebra) runs the chain, and an Orchard soundness bug that could mint undetectable ZEC was found May 29, 2026, unexploited.
How value reaches holders
None; 21M cap + halvings (next 2028), ~4% inflation falling; 20% of issuance diverted (12% coinholder lockbox + 8% grants). Coinholders voted 98.9% to keep halvings (NU7, Sep 14, 2026); ZIP 235 removes 60% of fees from circulation from NU7 (target Nov 5, 2026), with reissuance from ~2031. 29.2% of supply is shielded (~59% of activity); Grayscale ZCSH ETF $681M (Oct 22, 2026)
Score anatomy
Demand
30 / 45: the stronger of two routes, plus adoptionWhy would anyone hold it: does value reach the token, and is the network or product used today?
Approved or designed but inert, indirect sinks only, or flows into a treasury or endowment
$0.5-5M/yr, or undisclosed
29.2% of supply shielded (Oct 19, 2026), inside the 10-30% band of measurable monetary use (panel 3).
$1-10B posted as collateral at venues the issuer does not control, or 10-30% of supply in measurable monetary usehigh confidenceHow this is scored
29.2% of ZEC supply shielded (Oct 2026) and fees +404% YoY ($0.73M TTM) with shielded activity at a record; top-two private money and gaining on Monero
Leader: a top-three network or product in its category by use, holding or gaining sharemedium confidenceHow this is scored
Two routes, the stronger counts
Soundness
22 / 40Can a long-term holder trust the rules: supply, float, distribution and control?
~3.9%/yr under the 21M cap with halvings (next 2028, kept by a 98.9% coinholder vote Sep 14, 2026); changes need a network upgrade adopted by node operators.
1-3%/yr on a published curve, or 3-7%/yr under a hard cap with halvingshigh confidenceHow this is scored
All 17.0M issued ZEC is liquid; lockbox and grant balances are under 2% of supply.
Fully vested, no scheduled unlockshigh confidenceHow this is scored
No coin sale to VCs; named-org streams (2.1M founders' reward 2016-20, ECC/ZF/grants dev fund since 2020) total ~3.3M, ~19% of the ~17.0M ever issued; the 12% coinholder lockbox is not counted
Insiders received 10-25%, or one organization directs 3-10%high confidenceHow this is scored
An Orchard soundness bug that could mint undetectable ZEC was found May 29, 2026 (unexploited, sealed by the Ironwood turnstile); single client (Zebra) since Jul 18, 2026; ~34 GS/s, ~1% rentable
Attack cost $10-100M, an unexploited soundness bug in the last 24 months, or upgrades by a security council or governance with under a 7-day exit windowhigh confidenceHow this is scored
Durability
12 / 15Is it big, proven and reachable by institutions?
$21.1B market cap (band 5), $1.0B/day median volume (band 5), no flags.
Systemic: over $10B market cap and $500M/day+How this is scored
Turns ten on Oct 28, 2026, which lifts this to 5
8-10 years and two such cycleshigh confidenceHow this is scored
One US ETF (Grayscale ZCSH, ~$627M); EU AMLR bars regulated firms from privacy coins from Jul 10, 2027
One US spot ETF, or US ETFs under $500Mhigh confidenceHow this is scored
What would move it up
To reach T1 Store-of-value grade, 5 gates are still open:
- Score 64needs 80(open)
- Value engine 3needs 4(open)
- Supply 3needs 4(open)
- Security 2needs 4(open)
- Distribution 2needs 3(open)
- Adoption 4gate 4(met)
- Float and unlocks 5gate 3(met)
- Track record 4gate 4(met)
- Scale 5gate 4(met)
Tier outlook · next trigger Oct 28, 2026
Stable
- Track record rises to 5 on Oct 28, 2026, ten years after launch
- Usage rises to 4 if shielded supply passes 30% (29.2% on Oct 19, 2026)
- Security falls to 1 on a halt or an exploited soundness bug while Zebra is the only client
- Supply: NU7 activation (target Nov 5, 2026) brings the ZIP 235 fee removal while keeping halvings
- Access stays capped at 3 by the EU AMLR privacy-coin exclusion from Jul 10, 2027
Compare with
How the ranking works and how ZEC compares: see the full ranking. This entry as JSON:
GET https://tokens.10102.io/api/v1/tokenomics?symbol=ZEC