ZECZcash: history, founders and key events
From Oct 28, 2016 to today, every major rally, crash and upgrade, each with a dated, sourced price.
Open the interactive timelineLatest close in our data: $1,224 (Coinbase Exchange ZEC/USD daily close, 2026-10-14).
Origin story
Zcash grew out of the Zerocash research paper by cryptographers at Johns Hopkins, MIT, Technion and Tel Aviv University. It uses zero knowledge proofs (zk-SNARKs) so users can send shielded transactions that hide sender, receiver and amount.
The company behind it, led by Zooko Wilcox-O'Hearn, launched the network on October 28, 2016 after a trusted setup ceremony. Like Bitcoin, Zcash has a 21 million cap and halvings.
Founders: Zooko Wilcox-O'Hearn and the Electric Coin Company team, building on Zerocash research.
Source: Binance ZEC/USDT daily closes 2019-03-21 to 2020-12-07; Coinbase Exchange ZEC/USD daily closes 2020-12-08 to 2026-10-14. Fetched Oct 14, 2026 from free public APIs. Click a dot for the event and its price on that day.
Browse by year
Key events
- Oct 28, 2016launch
Zcash launches
The first big privacy coin built on zk-SNARKs goes live. - Mar 21, 2019milestone
First daily close in our data $55.14 (Binance ZEC/USDT daily close, 2019-03-21)
Our sourced ZEC price history begins on this day. - Nov 18, 2020milestone
Canopy upgrade and first halving $63.17 (Binance ZEC/USDT daily close, 2020-11-18)
The block reward halves and a new development fund begins. - May 31, 2022upgrade
NU5 and Halo 2 $93.37 (Coinbase Exchange ZEC/USD daily close, 2022-05-31)
Zcash removes the need for a trusted setup. - Sep 26, 2026rally
Highest close in our data $1,652 (Coinbase Exchange ZEC/USD daily close, 2026-09-26)
The highest daily close for ZEC in our price history.
Updated
Sources
Facts written in our own words. Last checked Oct 14, 2026.