Zcash, Privacy Transactions Surge…Shielded Pool Share Surpasses 23%

Privacy transactions on Zcash (ZEC)'s network have surged, bringing the shielded pool's share of total supply to 23%. This is an increase of 5% percentage points from 18% in October, indicating a rapid expansion in adoption of the network's privacy features.

According to The Block's Data Insights report on the 11th (local time), the shielded pool encrypts transaction details to conceal sender, receiver, and amount information. As shielded pool coins increase, the difficulty of tracking across the network rises, strengthening Zcash's inherent anonymity features.

In particular, the rise in the shielded pool ratio coincided with price increases. ZEC's price started at about $400 on November 1 and surged to $750 on the 8th, rising more than 87%. Trading volume also increased during this period; based on Coinbase 24-hour trading volume, Zcash recorded $345 million, overtaking Ethereum ($288 million) to take second place.

The Block analyzed, "The simultaneous increase in price and network activity is a positive sign," adding, "This indicates that actual protocol usage is increasing, not just speculative trading."

The report also assessed that the expansion of Zcash's shielded pool ratio shows a pattern similar to Ethereum's staking structure. Currently, about 30% of Ethereum's total supply is staked for network security, and the report projected that if Zcash approaches 30%, similar patterns of participation in network governance could emerge.

In contrast to many virtual assets (cryptocurrencies) that concentrate trading on derivatives, Zcash was evaluated as differentiated in that its real network usage is supported by on-chain activity.