ZcashNetworkindependent field report
tuning in… readings refresh every 60 s
Block height
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Avg block time
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target 75 s
Blocks · 24 h
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target 1,152
Txs · 24 h
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Mempool
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Hashrate · 24 h
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ZEC / USD
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Supply shielded
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The Zcash network, measured.

A running log of what the Zcash chain is doing right now: how fast blocks arrive, how busy the mempool is, and how much of the coin supply sits inside the private, shielded pools.

Independent work. Not made by, endorsed by or affiliated with the Electric Coin Co., the Zcash Foundation or any wallet. This page only reads public data; it has no wallet field and will never want a key, seed or password from you.
OBSERVATION 01

Network now

awaiting first reading

Collecting the latest counters…

Counters come from Blockchair's Zcash stats feed and lag the chain tip by a block or two. Hashrate for Equihash is measured in solutions per second (Sol/s).

OBSERVATION 02

Shielded vs transparent

awaiting node
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of all mined ZEC is held in shielded pools, according to a public Zcash node.
0%25%50%75%100%
PoolZECShare≈ USD
Asking the node…

Pool balances are the valuePools figures a full node keeps for every block. A shielded pool's total is public even though the individual notes inside it are not.

How the pools have moved

Samples are pulled one block at a time (daily for the last 90 days, then monthly), so the line fills in over the first hour after the service starts.

OBSERVATION 03

Latest blocks

awaiting feed
HeightMinedTxsSizeNet shielded Δ
Loading…

Each height opens the block on blockchair.com. "Net shielded Δ" is Blockchair's per-block total change in shielded value: green means more ZEC entered shielded pools than left in that block, red the reverse. Blockchair counts the lockbox share of each block reward (0.1875 ZEC) in this figure, so a quiet block still shows that small plus. Per-block fees are left out on purpose: explorers that infer fees from transparent inputs minus outputs overstate them whenever value moves into a shielded pool.

OBSERVATION 04

Field notes on privacy

plain-language primer

Two kinds of address

Transparent addresses (starting with t) work like Bitcoin: sender, receiver and amount are all visible to anyone. Shielded addresses keep those details encrypted on chain. Modern wallets hand out a unified address (starting with u) that bundles both kinds so the sender's wallet can pick the private route.

What a shielded payment hides

Inside a pool, a payment spends old encrypted "notes" and creates new ones. A zero-knowledge proof convinces every node the maths adds up and nothing is spent twice, without revealing who paid whom or how much.

What still shows

That a transaction happened, roughly when, its fee, how many inputs and outputs it has, and any value crossing between the transparent side and a shielded pool. Moving coins in and straight back out with the same amount can be linked by timing and size.

Sprout, Sapling, Orchard

Sprout (2016) was the first pool and is now closed to new deposits. Sapling (2018) made proofs fast enough for phones. Orchard (2022) uses the Halo 2 proof system, which needs no trusted setup ceremony.

Ironwood

The newest pool, added in a 2026 network upgrade. Funds leaving Orchard now pass through a turnstile into Ironwood, so the total in each pool can be checked and a hidden counterfeit could not keep circulating unseen.

Viewing keys

A shielded wallet can export a read-only viewing key. Whoever holds it can see that wallet's incoming (and, with a full key, outgoing) payments but cannot spend anything. It is how auditors, accountants or exchanges can be given visibility on your terms.

Turnstiles and the supply

Every time value crosses into or out of a shielded pool, the amount is public. Nodes track a running balance for each pool and refuse any block that would push one below zero. That is where the pool totals above come from.

The lockbox

Since late 2024 part of each block reward goes to a protocol lockbox for future development funding rather than to a person. It is neither ordinary transparent coins nor shielded, so it is listed on its own.

Fee & wait estimator

Uses the conventional fee rule most wallets follow (ZIP 317). Count parts as they appear in the transaction.

Estimate

Logical actions
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Fee
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Fee in USD
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Expected wait
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fee = 5,000 zatoshi × max(2, actions)
actions = max(t in, t out) + max(Sapling spends, outputs) + Orchard actions
wait = confirmations × live average block time
OBSERVATION 05

Method & sources

read before quoting

Where numbers come from

  • Blockchair — height, 24 h block and transaction counts, mempool, difficulty, hashrate, median fee, latest blocks. Held for 60–90 s to respect their rate limit.
  • CoinGecko — ZEC/USD and 24 h change (Blockchair's price is used if CoinGecko is unreachable).
  • Tatum's public Zcash node gateway — getblockchaininfo and getblock value pools. Anonymous access allows a handful of calls a minute, so pool totals refresh every 5 minutes.

How the shielded share is worked out

Shielded share = (Sprout + Sapling + Orchard + Ironwood) ÷ total chain value reported by the node. Transparent coins and the development lockbox count in the total but not in the shielded part. USD values multiply ZEC by the current price and ignore anything else.

What this page will not do

It does not look up addresses, guess who owns coins or try to de-anonymise anyone. It holds no funds and has no sign-in. If a source fails, the affected reading shows a dash rather than a guess.

Fine print

Figures are informational, may lag or be wrong, and are not a recommendation to buy, sell or hold anything. Verify on your own node before relying on them. Zcash is a trademark of its respective owners; it is used here only to describe the network being measured.