Monero vs Zcash: which privacy coin fits you?

Monero vs Zcash at a glance

Default privacy vs optional privacy

This is the main difference. In Monero there is no transparent mode. Every wallet, exchange withdrawal and payment uses the same privacy features, so every user helps hide every other user.

In Zcash, you choose. Transparent addresses work like Bitcoin and show amounts and history. Shielded addresses hide sender, receiver and amount using zero-knowledge proofs, which give a far larger anonymity set than Monero's current 16-member rings. The catch is that privacy only helps when both sides use shielded addresses and when many people do the same. Moving coins between transparent and shielded pools is visible and can be linked by timing and amount.

How much Zcash is actually shielded?

Shielded use grew fast. According to The Block, about 8% of ZEC supply was shielded at the start of 2025 and around 23% by 26 December 2025. On 29 April 2026 The Block reported that nearly 30% of circulating ZEC sat behind a shielded balance, the highest ratio on record. That still means most ZEC is transparent. Some data sites quote other figures depending on whether they divide by circulating supply or by the 21 million cap, so treat any single percentage as approximate.

Security record: Orchard and Ironwood

In late May 2026, a Shielded Labs researcher found a flaw in the zero-knowledge circuit of Zcash's Orchard pool that in theory could have allowed undetectable counterfeit ZEC. Activity in Orchard was halted by an emergency soft fork on 2 June 2026, and a fixed circuit followed. Analysts found no evidence it was exploited (The Block, 28 Jul 2026).

On 28 July 2026 the NU6.3 upgrade activated Ironwood, a new shielded pool that replaces Orchard as the main one and adds a "turnstile" so the circulating supply can be audited. Orchard now only allows withdrawals. By late September 2026, about 89% of weekly shielded transactions went through Ironwood, according to Blockworks data reported by KuCoin News (23 Sep 2026).

Monero has its own history. It patched a counterfeiting bug in 2017, and its smaller mining network saw 6-block and 18-block reorganisations in August and September 2025. Neither coin is risk-free; both have active researchers.

Supply, mining and funding

Zcash copies Bitcoin's 21 million cap and four-year halvings. Mining uses Equihash, where specialised machines dominate. Part of each block reward funds development organisations, which some see as a strength and others as a governance risk.

Monero has a permanent tail emission of 0.6 XMR per block, CPU-friendly RandomX mining, and no built-in development tax. See Monero supply and how to mine Monero.

Exchanges and regulation

Regulators usually group both coins together. India's FIU was reported in January 2026 to have told registered platforms to stop deposits and withdrawals of tokens such as XMR and ZEC, and the Philippines' central bank barred licensed providers from listing privacy coins such as Monero and Zcash in June 2026. Kraken halted both for UAE residents in June 2026. In the EU, the AMLR bars regulated providers from handling anonymity-enhancing coins from 10 July 2027; read the EU 2027 rules.

Zcash is still easier to find on large exchanges, partly because deposits can use transparent addresses. Holding either coin in your own wallet remains legal in most places; see is Monero legal? and country pages.

Which should you choose?

• Choose Monero if you want privacy that works every time without settings, a coin whose whole network is private, and CPU mining.
• Choose Zcash if you want a fixed supply, optional privacy you can turn on for specific payments, and easier exchange access. Use shielded addresses, or you get no privacy at all.
• For beginners who mainly want to avoid exposing their balance to the people they pay, Monero is harder to misuse.

Frequently asked questions