What is the issuance and circulation of ZEC coins?

ZEC coins are released through mining and have a maximum supply of 21 million, with an estimated 13.5 million currently circulating as of February 2023.

Nov 04, 2024 at 03:33 am

What is the issuance and circulation of ZEC coins?

1. Issuance

• ZEC coins are issued through a process called mining.
• Miners verify and add new transactions to the Zcash blockchain and are rewarded with ZEC coins.
• The maximum supply of ZEC coins is capped at 21 million, similar to Bitcoin.

2. Circulating supply

• As of February 2023, the circulating supply of ZEC coins is approximately 13.5 million.
• This means that 13.5 million ZEC coins have been mined and are currently in circulation.
• The remaining 7.5 million ZEC coins are yet to be mined.

3. Distribution

• Initially, ZEC coins were distributed through a process called the "Founders' Reward."
• Under this program, 10% of the mined ZEC coins were allocated to the Zcash Company, the Electric Coin Company, and early investors.
• The Founders' Reward program ended in October 2018.

4. Current issuance rate

• The issuance rate of ZEC coins is currently set at 3.125 ZEC coins per block mined.
• The issuance rate is halved every four years, similar to Bitcoin's halving mechanism.
• The next halving is expected to occur around October 2024.

5. Future issuance

• The issuance of ZEC coins is expected to continue until the maximum supply of 21 million coins is reached.
• At that point, new ZEC coins will no longer be issued, and the inflation rate will be zero.

Additional notes:

• ZEC coins are a fungible cryptocurrency, meaning that they are interchangeable and indistinguishable from one another.
• ZEC transactions are private by default, but users can choose to make them transparent if desired.
• ZEC is currently traded on a variety of cryptocurrency exchanges.