How to Shield Zcash (ZEC): Pools and Wallets After Ironwood (2026)

Zcash (ZEC) is private only when it is shielded. Shielding means moving ZEC from a transparent address, where everything is public, into a shielded pool, where payments hide the sender, the receiver and the amount. This guide explains the pools after the 2026 Ironwood upgrade, how to shield a transparent balance, how to move funds out of the old Orchard pool, and the habits that keep shielded ZEC private.

Transparent and shielded ZEC

Zcash runs public and private payments on one chain.

• Transparent addresses start with t1 or t3. They work like Bitcoin addresses. The sender, the receiver, the amount and the balance are public.
• Shielded addresses keep that information encrypted. Sapling addresses start with zs1. Unified addresses start with u1 and can bundle several receivers in one string, always with at least one shielded receiver.

The Zcash docs describe four kinds of transaction. Transparent to transparent is fully public. Shielding moves ZEC from a transparent address into a shielded pool, and the amount that enters is public. Deshielding moves ZEC out of a pool to a transparent address, and the amount that leaves is public. Shielded to shielded hides the addresses and the amount.

So the goal is simple: get your ZEC into a shielded pool once, and keep it there.

The shielded pools in 2026

A pool is the set of shielded funds that use one protocol. ZEC cannot move from one pool to another without showing the amount on the chain.

Ironwood (NU6.3) activated on 28 July 2026 at block 3,428,143. It followed the discovery of a flaw in the Orchard proof circuit in May 2026, which was fixed in June. Zcash developers found no evidence that the flaw was used, but Orchard is private, so the chain alone cannot prove that. Ironwood adds a fresh pool so that the supply can be checked again.

Ironwood reuses the Orchard receivers. Your unified address does not change. A payment to its Orchard receiver now lands in Ironwood. Funds that were already in Orchard can leave only through the turnstile, into Ironwood or to a transparent address. The turnstile stops more ZEC leaving Orchard than ever went in.

The official upgrade page tells users to update their Zcash apps. Transactions made under the old rules are no longer valid, and an older wallet may not show a payment that lands in Ironwood.

How to shield a transparent balance

You may hold ZEC at a t1 address because an exchange, a pool or a swap paid you there. To shield it:

1. Use a wallet that is shielded by default and updated for Ironwood. The official Zcash site recommends a shielded wallet.
2. Let the wallet sync so it shows the transparent balance.
3. Check whether it shields on its own. ZIP 315, a draft guide for wallets, says wallets should shield transparent funds by default and must let you turn that off. Some wallets show the balance as pending until they do.
4. If not, start the shielding transaction yourself and confirm it.
5. Shield one transparent address at a time. A transaction that spends from several transparent addresses links them to each other on the chain.

The amount you shield is public, because it crosses from the transparent side into a pool. Shield it once and then pay from the shielded balance. The fee follows ZIP 317: it grows with the number of inputs and outputs, not with the amount.

To receive ZEC with no transparent step at all, give the sender a unified or Sapling address, if they can pay one. ZIP 316 says a sender must use the most preferred receiver it supports, and shielded receivers rank first.

How to move funds out of Orchard

If you held ZEC in Orchard before 28 July 2026, it needs to move to Ironwood over time. The route is the turnstile, and each amount that crosses is public.

ZIP 318, a draft guide for wallets, describes how a wallet should do this with the least loss of privacy:

• The wallet shows you the Orchard balance and asks you before any funds leave Orchard.
• It splits the balance into standard amounts, such as 1, 2, 5 or 10 ZEC.
• It sends those parts as separate transactions, spread over time, so they are harder to link to one wallet.

One quick move is possible too, but it shows your whole Orchard balance in a single transaction. Pick the slower option when your wallet offers it.

Cake Wallet’s documentation says it runs this migration by itself. It starts the first time you open a synced wallet that still holds an Orchard balance, and it only makes progress while the app is open and synced. The parts show as outgoing transactions, but they move between your own pools.

Wallet support

Wallets change quickly after an upgrade, so check the wallet’s own notes before you move funds.

• Zodl, formerly Zashi. The team behind it left the Electric Coin Company in January 2026 and renamed the app. Zodl says users did not need to move funds or change their recovery phrase for the rename. Its team said the wallet and its SDKs were being updated for Ironwood.
• Cake Wallet documents an automatic, privacy-preserving Orchard to Ironwood migration.
• Other wallets. ZecHub, a community education site, keeps a list that shows which pools each wallet supports. The Zcash community forum kept a list of wallets updated for Ironwood through August 2026.

Whatever wallet you use, write down its seed phrase and keep it offline. Anyone who sees it can spend your ZEC.

Privacy habits for shielded ZEC

• Move between pools as rarely as you can. Each crossing shows its amount.
• Do not shield and then deshield the same amount soon after. Matching amounts in and out can link the two.
• Avoid round trips to the same exchange. A platform that only accepts transparent ZEC sees your deposit amount. ZIP 320 describes TEX addresses (tex1), which accept only transparent funds, so a shielded wallet first moves the coins to a temporary transparent address.
• Share a viewing key only when needed. It shows your shielded payments to whoever holds it.

For a wider comparison, read Zcash vs Monero. Monero has no transparent side, so there is nothing to shield.

Get ZEC, or swap out of it

You can swap into ZEC on HiddenSwap with no account and no email. Start with Bitcoin to Zcash, receive at a new t1 address from your own wallet, and shield the ZEC after it arrives. Our guide on how to get Zcash without KYC covers the full route. To leave ZEC, use the Zcash to Bitcoin swap. Our Zcash coin page explains each address type and what the swap form accepts.

Our Zcash guide collects the basics in one place: supply, pools, wallets and how to get ZEC.