ZecZcashZcash Glossary
Short, plain-English definitions for the terms you'll run into around Zcash and shielded transactions — from zk-SNARKs to viewing keys.
Anonymity Set
The group of transactions or users that a given transaction is indistinguishable from.
Block Height
The number of blocks that have been added to the Zcash blockchain since the genesis block.
Circulating Supply
The amount of ZEC that has been mined and is publicly available, out of the 21 million max supply.
Equihash
Zcash's memory-hard Proof-of-Work mining algorithm, designed to slow specialized-hardware dominance of mining.
Full Node
Software that downloads and independently verifies the entire Zcash blockchain.
Halving
A scheduled reduction in the rate new ZEC is issued to miners, roughly every four years.
Hashrate
The total computational power currently mining on the Zcash network, and a key input into mining difficulty.
Light Wallet / Light Client
A wallet that doesn't store the full blockchain, instead syncing balance data from a remote server.
Max Supply
The hard cap on the total number of ZEC that will ever exist: 21 million.
Memo Field
An encrypted note that can be attached to a shielded Zcash transaction.
Network Upgrade (NU)
A coordinated, scheduled protocol change to the Zcash network, numbered sequentially (NU4, NU5...).
Orchard
The current-generation shielded pool protocol, introduced with the NU5 network upgrade in 2022.
Private Key
The secret cryptographic key that proves ownership of funds and authorizes spending them.
Proof of Work (PoW)
A consensus mechanism where miners spend real computational effort to propose new blocks and secure the network.
Sapling
A 2018 Zcash network upgrade that made shielded transactions dramatically faster and cheaper to compute.
Seed Phrase
A sequence of words that can regenerate every key and address in a wallet.
Shielded Address (z-address)
A Zcash address that uses zero-knowledge proofs to keep the sender, receiver and amount private.
Shielded Pool
The shared pool of ZEC held in shielded (private) addresses, where balances and transaction details are encrypted.
Shielding / Deshielding
Moving funds from a transparent address into the shielded pool (shielding), or back out (deshielding).
Transparent Address (t-address)
A Zcash address that behaves like a Bitcoin address — balances and transactions are publicly visible.
Unified Address (UA)
A single Zcash address format that can bundle both transparent and shielded receivers together.
Viewing Key
A key that lets someone see the contents of shielded transactions without being able to spend the funds.
Zero-Knowledge Proof
A cryptographic method for proving a statement is true without revealing why it's true.
zk-SNARK
A zero-knowledge proof that lets someone prove a statement is true without revealing the underlying data.
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