Privacy · 8 min read
Monero vs Zcash: two ways to private money
Private by default or private by choice: how Monero and Zcash hide transactions, where each one leaks, which exchanges list them, and how to swap between them.
By Swaponym
Published
01The difference in one table
| Property | Monero (XMR) | Zcash (ZEC) |
|---|---|---|
| Launched | 2014 | 2016 |
| Privacy | On by default, for every transaction | Optional: shielded or transparent |
| How it hides | Ring signatures (16 members), stealth addresses, hidden amounts | Zero-knowledge proofs inside the shielded pool |
| Supply | No hard cap: 0.6 XMR per block, for ever, since 2022 | Capped at 21 million, like Bitcoin |
| Block time | About 2 minutes | About 75 seconds |
| Mining | Proof of work on ordinary CPUs (RandomX) | Proof of work on specialised machines (Equihash) |
| Addresses | 4… or 8…, 95 characters | t1… / t3… transparent; zs1… and u1… shielded |
| Big exchanges | Removed by most since 2024 | Still on some; dropped by others |
| Paid out here to | Any address or subaddress | Transparent addresses only |
| Price right now | 538.2966 USDT | 1,283.96 USDT |
02How Monero hides a payment
Three techniques, applied to every transaction without anyone choosing them. Ring signatures mix the real spender with 15 decoys taken from the blockchain, so nobody can tell which of the 16 actually signed. Stealth addresses send each payment to a one-time address derived from the recipient’s, so the published address never appears on the chain. RingCT hides the amounts while still proving that nothing was created from thin air.
Because everyone uses the same scheme, every transaction looks like every other one: the anonymity set is the whole network. That uniformity is Monero’s strength — and the reason regulated exchanges find it hard to keep.
03How Zcash hides a payment
Zcash keeps two kinds of balance on one blockchain. Transparent addresses (t1…, t3…) work like Bitcoin’s: sender, recipient and amount are public. Shielded addresses (zs1…, and the unified addresses starting with u1 that current wallets hand out) use zero-knowledge proofs: the network verifies that a payment is valid without learning who paid whom, or how much.
Inside the shielded pool the privacy is very strong. The weak points are at its edges: coins moving in and out between transparent and shielded addresses are visible, and matching amounts or timing can link them. The more of your activity stays shielded, the less there is to link.
04Where each one leaks
- Monero — metadata around the chain. The node your wallet connects to sees your IP address; an exchange you deposit to knows the account. Your own node, or a wallet over Tor, and a no-account swap remove most of that.
- Monero — the decoys. Decoys are chosen to look like real spends, but careless habits — such as spending coins the moment they unlock — can make the real one stand out statistically.
- Zcash — the transparent side. Anything that ever touches a transparent address is as traceable as Bitcoin. Many users never shield at all.
- Zcash — shielding patterns. Moving 1.2345 ZEC into the shielded pool and 1.2345 out an hour later tells an observer most of the story. Shield, wait, and spend different amounts.
05Swapping between Monero and Zcash
| You send | You get | Arrives in | Swap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0.6 ZEC | 1.4073 XMR | 10-60 min | ZEC → XMR |
| 4 XMR | 1.6334 ZEC | 10-60 min | XMR → ZEC |
Live floating quotes at 12:45 UTC, network fees included.
Zcash to Monero. Your deposit can come from a shielded balance — the transaction then shows the amount and the deposit address, but not where the coins came from. Receive the XMR on a fresh subaddress of your own wallet.
Monero to Zcash. Give a transparent ZEC address (t1… or t3…): this desk pays out to those only, and the address check refuses a shielded one before anything is created. Once the ZEC has arrived, shield it from your own wallet if you want it private.
06Questions people ask
Which is more private, Monero or Zcash?
By default, Monero: every transaction is private and there is nothing to opt into. A Zcash payment made entirely inside the shielded pool can be as private or more, but only if both sides use shielded addresses — and much of Zcash’s activity is transparent.
Is Zcash traceable?
Transparent Zcash transactions are as traceable as Bitcoin’s. Shielded ones hide the sender, the recipient and the amount; what can still be observed is money moving in and out of the shielded pool.
Why do exchanges list Zcash but not Monero?
Because Zcash has a transparent mode, an exchange can accept only transparent deposits and trace them like any other coin. Monero has no such mode, so an exchange cannot monitor where deposits come from.
Can I swap ZEC to XMR without an account?
Yes. Send ZEC — from a shielded balance if you like — and receive XMR at your own address, with no account and no identity check. Right now 1 ZEC fetches about 2.3454 XMR.
Can I receive ZEC on a shielded address here?
No — payouts go to transparent addresses (t1… or t3…) only, and the address check refuses a shielded one. Receive on a transparent address of your own wallet, then shield from there.
Spotted something out of date? Tell us — the live figures refresh by themselves, the sentences around them are maintained by hand.
