Supply & Economics

Like Bitcoin, Zcash has a hard-coded maximum supply of 21,000,000 ZEC. This cap is enforced by the protocol itself — no authority can change it, and no additional ZEC can ever be created beyond this limit.

New ZEC enters circulation through mining rewards (the "block subsidy"). With each block, a fixed amount of ZEC is created and distributed. Over time, halvings reduce this amount, causing the supply to approach 21M asymptotically — meaning it gets closer and closer but technically never quite reaches it. The final fraction of a ZEC is projected to be mined around the year 2137.

The Dashboard features an interactive emission curve chart that visualizes this supply growth. You can hover over milestones to see the circulating supply at each point in Zcash's history.

Approximately every 4 years (every 1,680,000 blocks), the block subsidy is cut in half. This is called a "halving" and it's the primary mechanism that controls Zcash's inflation rate. Each halving era produces fewer new coins, making ZEC progressively scarcer over time.

The Dashboard includes a "Next Halving" card that tracks the countdown to the next halving with the estimated date, blocks remaining, and the current vs. next block subsidy.

Each block creates new ZEC, but not all of it goes to the miner. Since the first halving in 2020, a portion of each block reward has been directed to development funds. The current breakdown (post-NU6, 2nd halving era) is:

On block detail pages in the explorer, you can see this exact breakdown for every block: the miner subsidy, transaction fees (which also go to the miner), the ZCG allocation, and the Lockbox amount.

The 80/8/12 split you see today is the result of years of community governance. Zcash's approach to funding development has evolved through three distinct phases:

Phase 1: Founders' Reward (2016–2020)

During Zcash's first halving era, 20% of every block reward was distributed to the original founders, investors, employees, and advisors. The remaining 80% went to miners. This funded the initial development of the protocol but was controversial due to its concentration among insiders. It ended permanently at the first halving in November 2020.

Phase 2: Dev Fund (2020–2024)

Through community governance, ZEC holders voted to continue allocating a portion of block rewards to fund development — but with a broader set of recipients. The Electric Coin Company, Zcash Foundation, and community grants each received a share.

Phase 3: Current era (2024–present)

With the NU6 upgrade at the second halving, the funding model was restructured again. Two recipients now receive portions of each block reward:

• Zcash Community Grants (ZCG): Funds independent developers, researchers, and community projects building on Zcash. Anyone can apply for a ZCG grant.
• Coinholder-Controlled Fund (Lockbox): A novel approach — these funds are locked on-chain in a special address that cannot be spent until a future governance mechanism is established by ZEC holders. The Lockbox accumulates ZEC with every block, building a treasury that the community will eventually control.

When Zcash launched on October 28, 2016, it didn't immediately start with the full 12.5 ZEC block reward. Instead, for the first 20,000 blocks (~34 days at the original 150-second block time), the reward linearly ramped from 0 ZEC up to 12.5 ZEC. This "slow start" was a deliberate design choice to reduce the advantage of miners who connected earliest and to allow time for the network to stabilize before significant value was at stake.

While the slow start is a historical footnote, another technical detail — ZEC denomination — comes up every time you use the explorer.

Zatoshis: the smallest unit

Just as Bitcoin has satoshis, Zcash has zatoshis. One ZEC equals 100,000,000 zatoshis (10⁸). This means Zcash is divisible to 8 decimal places, allowing for extremely precise amounts.

On the explorer, you'll typically see ZEC values displayed with 4 or 8 decimal places. Transaction fees are usually tiny fractions of a ZEC — for example, a typical fee of 0.00001 ZEC equals just 1,000 zatoshis.

From a fixed supply cap to a community-governed development fund, Zcash's economic design balances scarcity, sustainability, and decentralized governance. The final guide in this series covers the network upgrades that brought these features to life.