How much is 1 ZEC?
One ZEC is worth $464.44 — the ZEC-to-USD rate as of 2026-08-01 19:21 UTC, +1.37% over the past 24 hours. The figure on this page refreshes hourly from CoinMarketCap data.
BAKED FROM THE HOURLY RATE AS OF 2026-08-01 19:21 UTC · NOT A LIVE CALCULATOR
ZEC vs. other Layer 1 coins
| Asset | 24H | 7D | 30D | 90D |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Zcash ZEC THIS PAGE | +1.37% | −4.38% | +5.93% | +14.95% |
| Bitcoin BTC | −0.75% | −2.84% | +1.68% | −20.55% |
| Ethereum ETH | −1.56% | −1.85% | +8.36% | −21.05% |
| BNB BNB | −1.89% | +1.55% | +3.22% | −6.82% |
AS OF 2026-08-01 19:21 UTC · DATA: COINMARKETCAP · DEEPER TINT = LARGER MOVE · 90D IS OUR LONGEST SNAPSHOT WINDOW
ZEC price context
Zcash's all-time high is $3,191.93, reached on October 28, 2016. At today's price of $464.44, ZEC trades 85.4% below that peak. Its lowest recorded price was $16.08 on July 4, 2024.
Over the past 30 days ZEC has moved +5.93% and over the past 90 days +14.95%.
Circulating supply is 16,799,906 ZEC , against a maximum supply of 21,000,000 ZEC. ZEC copies Bitcoin's monetary policy: a 21 million hard cap with block rewards halving every four years (November 2020, then November 2024, cutting the subsidy to 1.5625 ZEC per block). About 80% of all ZEC that will ever exist is already circulating, and a growing share of it — roughly 30% by mid-2026 — sits encrypted in the shielded pool.
Zcash all-time high
The gap to the record
Getting back to $3,192 from here would take a 6.9× move — that multiple, not the percentage, is the honest way to read a drawdown. The figure above updates every hour as our price snapshot refreshes; the record itself is an editorial fact recorded from CoinGecko - Zcash.
All-time low
Zcash's recorded all-time low is $16.08, on July 4, 2024 (CoinGecko - Zcash). From that low to today's price is the other end of the same story — aggregators differ on launch-era data, so we name the source we cite.
Zcash price history
Our sourced price record for Zcash begins in 2020 — the coin may have traded earlier, but we list only years we can back with a citable source. Its all-time high is $3,192 (Oct 28, 2016), its recorded low $16.08 (Jul 4, 2024), and it trades at $464.44 today. Every row below names where its figures come from.
Zcash price by year
Rows from 2020 through 2023 are editorial records — each cites the source it was taken from. Rows from 2024 onward are computed from our licensed CoinMarketCap daily data; for those years, high and low are the highest and lowest daily closes in our series, not intraday extremes.
| Year | Open | High | Low | Close | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | $71.61 | $78.24 | $47.17 | $64.11 | Coinbase (ZEC-USD) |
| 2021 | $64.01 | $386.00 | $55.15 | $146.46 | Coinbase (ZEC-USD) |
| 2022 | $146.49 | $216.34 | $33.20 | $37.23 | Coinbase (ZEC-USD) |
| 2023 | $37.24 | $51.26 | $21.30 | $26.92 | Coinbase (ZEC-USD) |
| 2024 | $26.91 | $74.29 | $16.34 | $58.66 | Our CMC data |
| 2025 | $55.78 | $705.35 | $27.59 | $524.35 | Our CMC data |
| 2026YTD | $511.48 | $676.17 | $195.87 | $464.44 | Our CMC data |
What moves Zcash's price
- Shielded-pool adoption: the share of ZEC supply held in encrypted shielded addresses is the network's clearest usage signal — it climbed from about 8% in early 2024 to 23% by November 2025 and roughly 30% by mid-2026, and the market treats each milestone as evidence the privacy feature is actually being used.
- Institutional flows and endorsements: the late-2025 rally that took ZEC from around $50 to a peak near $728 was driven by Cypherpunk Technologies — a Winklevoss-backed treasury company that deployed over $50 million into ZEC — high-profile endorsements framing Zcash as 'encrypted Bitcoin', and Grayscale's November 2025 filing to convert its Zcash Trust into a US spot ETF.
- Delisting and regulatory pressure: privacy coins face structural headwinds — South Korea's major exchanges delisted ZEC under 2021 Travel-Rule enforcement, and the EU's AML Regulation bars regulated venues from handling anonymity-enhancing assets from July 2027. Zcash's optional privacy and viewing keys have kept it on US exchanges that dropped Monero, but each regulatory deadline is a repricing event.
- The halving schedule: like Bitcoin, ZEC's new supply halves roughly every four years, most recently in November 2024 — a shrinking issuance stream that frames its longer cycles, amplified by ZEC's smaller float.
- Extreme reflexivity: ZEC is one of the most volatile large caps — the 2025 rally exceeded 1,000% and was followed by a roughly 60% drawdown to the $230–270 range in early 2026 before a recovery. Momentum and leverage cut both ways here more than in most majors.
“The share of ZEC supply held in encrypted shielded addresses is the network's clearest usage signal — it climbed from about 8% in early 2024 to roughly 30% by mid-2026, and the market treats each milestone as evidence the privacy feature is actually being used.”
About Zcash
Zcash launched on October 28, 2016, built by the Electric Coin Company (led by cryptographer Zooko Wilcox) as an implementation of the academic Zerocash protocol. It is a Bitcoin-derived proof-of-work chain with two address types: transparent addresses that behave like Bitcoin's, and shielded addresses where zk-SNARK proofs encrypt sender, receiver, and amount while still letting the network verify no coins were counterfeited. Holders can share viewing keys to selectively disclose shielded activity — the design choice that distinguishes it from always-private Monero and has helped it retain regulated-exchange listings.
Its history is a study in stated-and-resolved controversy. The original 2016 launch required a multi-party trusted-setup ceremony whose compromise could in principle have allowed undetectable counterfeiting — a debate closed by the Halo proving system (2019), which eliminated trusted setup when it shipped in the NU5 upgrade in May 2022. The first four years also carried a contested 20% 'founders' reward' to insiders and investors. After a long bear market that bottomed in mid-2024, shielded adoption, Winklevoss-linked treasury buying, and a Grayscale spot-ETF filing powered a dramatic late-2025 revival — followed by an equally dramatic drawdown and partial recovery through 2026.
ZEC tokenomics
Supply is capped at 21 million ZEC on Bitcoin's halving schedule, with about 16.8 million circulating by mid-2026. Distribution has always routed a protocol-level slice to development: the 2016–2020 founders' reward took 20% of block rewards for insiders and investors; a community-approved dev fund (2020–2024) split 20% among Electric Coin Co., the Zcash Foundation, and community grants; and since the November 2024 halving (NU6), miners receive 80% while 8% funds Zcash Community Grants and 12% accrues to an in-protocol 'lockbox' whose disbursement mechanism the community has yet to define. There is no burn mechanism.
How to buy Zcash
ZEC trades on major exchanges including Coinbase, Kraken, and Gemini in the US, though privacy-coin rules mean availability varies sharply by jurisdiction — Korean exchanges delisted it and EU venues face a 2027 deadline to drop it. To actually use the privacy features, coins must be moved to a shielded-capable wallet such as Electric Coin Co.'s Zashi; exchange balances and transparent addresses are as public as Bitcoin.
Zcash news
All coverage →
Zcash FAQ
Why was Zcash's all-time high in 2016?
The $3,191.93 print on launch day (per CoinGecko) is a low-float artifact, not a cycle high: Zcash launched with a 'slow start' that issued almost no coins in the first days, so tiny buys produced absurd prices. The comparable modern peak is the November 2025 rally high near $728.
Is Zcash fully anonymous like Monero?
No — privacy is optional. Transparent addresses are as traceable as Bitcoin; shielded addresses encrypt sender, receiver, and amount. Holders of shielded funds can share viewing keys for audits or compliance, which is why some regulated exchanges kept ZEC after delisting Monero. Roughly 30% of supply was shielded by mid-2026.
What was the Zcash trusted-setup controversy?
The original zk-SNARKs required a 2016 multi-party ceremony to generate parameters; if every participant had colluded and kept the 'toxic waste', counterfeit ZEC could in theory have been minted undetectably. The Halo proving system, invented by Electric Coin Co. in 2019 and deployed in the NU5 upgrade in May 2022, removed the trusted setup entirely.
What drove the huge 2025 Zcash rally?
A convergence of catalysts: shielded-pool adoption accelerating, the Winklevoss-backed treasury company Cypherpunk Technologies buying over $50 million of ZEC, prominent investors publicly framing Zcash as 'encrypted Bitcoin', and Grayscale filing in November 2025 to convert its Zcash Trust into a spot ETF. ZEC rose over 1,000% to about $728, then gave back roughly 60% in early 2026 before recovering.
Can Zcash be delisted in Europe?
The EU's AML Regulation (2024/1624) prohibits regulated crypto platforms from handling anonymity-enhancing coins, applicable from July 2027, so EU exchanges are expected to drop ZEC pairs before then. Zcash's optional transparency and viewing keys are its counterargument, but the compliance deadline is a real overhang the market watches.
What is Zcash's all-time high?
Zcash's all-time high is $3,192, reached on October 28, 2016 (source: CoinGecko - Zcash).
How far is ZEC from its all-time high?
As of 2026-08-01 19:21 UTC, ZEC trades at $464.44 — 85.4% below its all-time high. Reaching the ATH again would require a 6.9× move. This figure refreshes hourly with our CoinMarketCap data.
What was Zcash's lowest price ever?
Zcash's recorded all-time low is $16.08, on July 4, 2024 (source: CoinGecko - Zcash). Aggregators can differ on launch-era data; we cite the source shown.
Will ZEC reach a new all-time high?
We don't publish predictions. What can be said factually: ZEC trades 85.4% below its all-time high, and this page tracks that gap with hourly-refreshed data.
Related
Price data: CoinMarketCap, refreshed hourly. Last updated: August 1, 2026, 19:21 UTC. Historical figures (all-time high/low) are recorded at page creation and reviewed periodically.
This page is factual information, not financial advice.