Bitcoin could soon get Zcash-style 'shielded' privacy without changing its rules

Privacy has become a practical concern in recent months as developers try to make cryptocurrencies useful for payroll, business payments and everyday spending. Ordinary bitcoin transactions permanently expose amounts and addresses, but once an address is linked to a company or person, other payments associated with it become easier to follow.

Ethereum is also reviewing a proposal for a shared private pool that would let people transfer ether and other tokens without publicly revealing payment details. Its authors cite payroll, treasury management and donations among the uses poorly served by fully public transactions.

How Zcash works

Zcash lets users choose between transparent payments, whose addresses and amounts are public, and shielded payments that encrypt those details. Its shielded pools held about 4.9 million ZEC on Friday, up 14% from July 30, according to CoinDesk calculations using ZecStats data. That represents roughly 29% of issued coins, worth about $7.8 billion following the rally.

Zcash recorded roughly 63,000 shielded transactions last week, its busiest week for private transfers since 2022 and fourth-highest on record. Across the network, reported transfer volume exceeded $23 billion, the largest weekly total since 2021 and second-highest in its history.

Zcash has attracted both investor money and attention amid those metrics. By early September, ZEC had gained more than 2,300% over the preceding year and crossed $1,000. It extended the rally above $1,600 on Wednesday.