# Zcash

10 Hacker News commenters recommended Zcash and 14 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 7 of 13 months.

**Verdict:** Recommended for zero-knowledge-proof privacy, with some preferring it to Monero. Critics say privacy is optional and a recent vulnerability was found.

## Why people recommend it

- Seen as better than Monero (3 comments): "They seem to have solved the private transactions problem, have a better anonymity set than monero" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46195257)) "IMO zcash is a better implementation than monero" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47128351)) "they have a better roadmap than Monero" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45911858))
- Privacy built on zero-knowledge proofs (2 comments): "zcash is based on zeroknowledge proofs ground up so anonymous by default" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46341570)) "how Zcash solves this with zero-knowledge proofs" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45876457))
- Mature, reliable design over a decade (2 comments): "There are plenty of solutions to this problem. See eg the Zerocash paper and the Zcash chain, both decade+ old now" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48646429)) "seems much more reliable and long-term workable" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46087999))

## What people warn about

- Privacy is optional, not default (4 comments): "their privacy is optional, which is to say that when you need to swap it, your recipient will likely not accept the private version" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45911306)) "The problem with Lightning or Zcash is that it is not private by default." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47851120)) "The "coin" you mention is not private by default, therefore "weaker"." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46088117))
- Serious counterfeiting vulnerabilities found (3 comments): "They accidentally published some values from the setup procedure they shouldn't have, and it could be used to forge proofs." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47995297)) "The vulnerability could have been exploited to undetectably create an unlimited amount of counterfeit ZEC within Orchard." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48412090)) "overlooked by multiple in-depth security audits" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48410259))
- Development controlled by one company (2 comments): "The development of zcash is entirely controlled by Electric coin company, and they use this to control the zcash supply by taking a fraction of the coinbase outputs." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45912076)) "weak optional privacy, centralization and corporate/government ties" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45912062))
- Doubts about real-world use and survival (2 comments): "Bitcoin will survive via an efficient layer 2, e.g. Lightning, but will Zcash?" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45916294)) "It sounds like people still don't use it." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46089524))

## Alternatives hackers recommend

- [Monero (XMR)](https://hackerapproved.com/p/monero.md): 102 recommend
- [Ethereum](https://hackerapproved.com/p/ethereum.md): 28 recommend
- [Solana](https://hackerapproved.com/p/solana.md): 7 recommend
- [Base](https://hackerapproved.com/p/base.md): 5 recommend

## Cite as

Hacker Approved, "Zcash", https://hackerapproved.com/p/zcash/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).