Zcash vs Monero (2026): Privacy Models Compared

The short answer

Monero is private by default. Every transaction hides the sender, the receiver and the amount. The Monero FAQ says there is no way to send a transparent transaction by accident.

Zcash is private by choice. It has transparent addresses that work like Bitcoin addresses. Their amounts and balances are public. It also has shielded addresses. A payment between two shielded addresses hides the sender, the receiver and the amount. Your privacy depends on which addresses you and the other side use.

Both coins give strong privacy when you use them well. The sections below explain how each one works and the habits that keep it strong.

Zcash vs Monero at a glance

The shielded share is a dated reading from the official Zcash network page. It changes with every block. The other rows describe how each network works.

How Monero hides payments

Monero uses three tools on every transaction.

• Ring signatures hide the sender. Each input is signed as one of 16 possible outputs: your real one and 15 decoys taken from the chain.
• Stealth addresses hide the receiver. The sender’s wallet creates a new one-time address for each payment.
• RingCT hides the amount. It has been required for all transactions since September 2017.

Every transaction follows the same rules, so Monero has no public side to fall back to. You and the person you pay do not need to agree on any setting.

Today each input hides among 16 outputs. The Monero project is working on Full-Chain Membership Proofs, known as FCMP++. Its official blog describes this as a replacement for rings, where the spent output could be any output on the chain. A project post from May 2026 said no fork date was set yet; our Monero FCMP++ tracker follows its status and which wallets support it. Our guide Is Monero traceable? covers what research has found and how to keep your privacy strong.

To get XMR, you can swap Bitcoin to Monero with no account. Our Monero coin page covers address types, syncing and the 10-block lock in more detail.

How Zcash hides payments

Zcash uses zero-knowledge proofs. A shielded transaction proves that it is valid without showing who paid whom or how much. When both sides use shielded addresses, the sender, the receiver and the amount stay encrypted.

Zcash runs public and private payments on one chain. The Zcash docs describe four kinds of transaction:

• Transparent to transparent works like Bitcoin. Addresses and amounts are public.
• Shielding moves ZEC from a transparent address into a shielded pool. The amount that enters is public.
• Deshielding moves ZEC out of a shielded pool to a transparent address. The amount that leaves is public.
• Shielded to shielded hides the addresses and the amount.

The Zcash docs also say ZEC cannot move directly between two shielded pools without showing the amount. This matters in 2026.

On 29 May 2026, a security researcher found a flaw in the proof circuit of the Orchard pool. The Zcash developers fixed it with an emergency upgrade in the first days of June. They then disclosed that the flaw could have let someone create counterfeit ZEC inside Orchard. They said it affected only Orchard. Sapling and transparent transactions were not affected. They found no evidence that the flaw was used. Because Orchard is private, the chain alone cannot prove this.

A second upgrade followed. Ironwood (NU6.3) activated on 28 July 2026 at block 3,428,143. It closes Orchard to new funds and adds a new shielded pool, also called Ironwood. Funds in Orchard can only leave through the turnstile, into Ironwood or to a transparent address. The amount and the block height of each move are public. Existing addresses keep working, because Ironwood reuses their Orchard receivers.

Unified addresses make shielding easier. A unified address bundles several address types into one string. The official Zcash site says wallets that support them can shield incoming ZEC by default. It also says your address stays shielded when you send from a unified address, whatever address the receiver uses.

To get ZEC, start from swap Bitcoin to Zcash. Our Zcash coin page explains the address types.

Shielded usage in 2026

On 17 September 2026, the official Zcash network page showed a shielded pool size of 4,894,909 ZEC. The same page showed about 16.93 million ZEC in circulation. That puts just under 29% of the ZEC in circulation in shielded pools. ZEC at transparent addresses has public balances.

On the same day, a public Zcash block explorer showed about 0.51 million ZEC in the Sapling pool. It also showed about 0.41 million ZEC still in the old Orchard pool. Those coins can only leave through the turnstile.

Treat these figures as a snapshot. Monero has no matching figure. Every Monero transaction is private, so there is no transparent share to measure.

How to keep each coin private

Monero

• Run your own node, as the Monero project advises. A remote node can link your transactions to your IP address.
• Share your private view key only with someone who needs it. It shows your incoming payments.
• Hold XMR in a wallet you control. The Monero FAQ makes the point that a party that has your name and address does not forget them because you used Monero.

Zcash

• Keep your ZEC at shielded addresses. Transparent addresses show the addresses, the amounts and the balances.
• Move ZEC between pools as rarely as you can, because the amount that enters or leaves a shielded pool shows on the chain. That includes moves out of Orchard.
• Share a viewing key only with someone who needs to see your shielded payments.

A platform may give you a Zcash deposit address that starts with tex. ZIP 320 says a wallet must spend only transparent funds when it sends to a TEX address. If your ZEC is shielded, the wallet first moves it to a temporary transparent address. That step makes the amount public.

Platforms that only take transparent ZEC

ZIP 320 shows how a platform can limit shielded deposits. It says the TEX format was written for an exchange that wants each deposit to come from an address it can see on the chain. That way the exchange can send funds back if needed. If a platform you use only accepts transparent ZEC, your deposit amount will be public.

Which one fits you

• Choose Monero if you want privacy on every payment with no setting to get wrong.
• Choose Zcash if you need both modes, for example a public record for some payments and privacy for others. Use a wallet that shields by default, keep your ZEC shielded, and move it between pools as rarely as you can.
• Take care with Zcash when the other side only uses transparent addresses. Your shielded address stays hidden, but the amount you send becomes public when it leaves the pool.

How to swap into either coin

You can get either coin on HiddenSwap, a private crypto exchange with no account and no email. A few things are true for both routes:

• The swap is anonymous: no account, no email and no ID, and swap records keep no name and no IP address.
• Send the deposit to the address shown for your order, in one transaction. Your new coins are sent after it is credited.
• Add the Bitcoin address you send from, and send from it. Coins on an exchange account? Withdraw them to your own wallet first.
• A floating quote can change before your deposit confirms.

For ZEC, check which address types the swap page accepts before you paste one. For the strongest privacy, give a shielded or unified address if the form takes it. If you receive at a transparent address, shield the ZEC soon after it arrives.

For XMR, use a new subaddress from your own wallet for each swap. Your wallet can spend newly received XMR after 10 confirmations, which takes about 20 minutes.

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