The 10x Surge in 2 Months: Zcash CEO Josh Reveals the Ultimate Battle for "Liberty Coin"
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The 10x Surge in 2 Months: Zcash CEO Josh Reveals the Ultimate Battle for "Liberty Coin"
A deep dive into how Zcash addresses interoperability challenges, and Josh's perspective on the ultimate battle between "fintech coins" and "freedom coins."
Navigating Web3 tides with focused insightsWritten by: The Rollup
Translated by: Baihua Blockchain
"Bitcoin is insurance against fiat, Zcash is insurance against Bitcoin." — Naval Ravikant's classic statement, amplified by a wave of KOL endorsements, has triggered a capital surge into Zcash.
With an astonishing over 10x rise in just two months, Zcash—the privacy project making a "comeback of the king"—is emerging from its "dark ages" of performance limitations and regulatory scrutiny.
Why are even the most diehard Bitcoin supporters now flocking to Zcash? In this interview, Zcash CEO Josh Swihart dives deep into how Zcash solves interoperability challenges and shares his vision for the ultimate battle between "fin-tech coins" and "freedom coins."
The Birth of Zcash and Its Privacy Core
Host: Can you tell us about Zcash’s founding pioneers and its origin story—from zero to one? How did these scientists come together to invent this new technology?
Josh: Great question. Zero-knowledge cryptography has existed for over 30 years, but mostly as mathematics within academic circles, lacking real-world applications. When Satoshi introduced Bitcoin, he looked into zero-knowledge proofs and really wanted to add anonymity or stronger privacy to Bitcoin, but couldn’t figure out how to implement it. Hal Finney was also deeply fascinated by zero-knowledge cryptography and kept trying to apply it to Bitcoin.
But the math was too complex, so scientists around the world began researching independently. Researchers from institutions like Johns Hopkins University, Technion, MIT, and others eventually cracked it and published papers. They brought their work to the Bitcoin core team, but the core team said: “Too new—no way—but feel free to try it on another chain.” So they forked the Bitcoin codebase and added zero-knowledge encryption. That’s how Zcash was born.
Strong Comeback: Capital Inflows and Interoperability Breakthroughs
Host: Recently, Zcash achieved better interoperability via Near Intents. Do you think this is the key factor behind Zcash’s recent success, or are there other contributing factors?
Josh: I think it's a convergence of multiple factors. For years, Zcash suffered from poor performance, lack of scalability, and bad user experience—mainly because the cryptography was so new that we were still figuring things out. A few years ago, we solved most of these issues. The Orchard upgrade, activated through "Network Upgrade 5," allowed us to finally start building the upper layers of the ecosystem.
I decided to become CEO of ECC in January 2024, and we focused heavily on improving user experience. Of course, we continue core development. The ECC core development team is the one built by Zuko. We developed a wallet called Zashi. If you look at the data, shortly after Zashi launched at the end of Q1 2024, shielded transactions and tokens in the shielded pool began growing exponentially. We partnered with Keystone to provide hardware signing support, further steepening the growth curve of the shielded pool. In December 2024, we added swap functionality into Zashi (about eight weeks ago).
If you look at the shielded pool chart, it's going almost straight up. This indicates it's not serious speculation—not people buying tokens on centralized exchanges, chasing price charts, placing orders. Instead, people are withdrawing tokens from exchanges, driven by fear, moving to self-custody, and using them as intended. So yes, the price went up, but the truly important metric is the amount of ZEC in the shielded pool—it's nearly vertical.
Host: Can you explain what the "Shielded Pool" is for new users? How does it function within Zcash’s mechanism, and how does it enable privacy?
Josh: As I said, Zcash is a fork of the Bitcoin codebase, so it shares the same tokenomics: a fixed supply of 21 million. There are some adjustments—block times are slightly longer to accommodate the system—and other innovations, but the foundation is Bitcoin.
You take Bitcoin and add privacy. We already know Bitcoin is traceable. People don't want their wealth exposed on the internet. For example, if you hold Bitcoin in an address, that address becomes labeled. If you bought it on an exchange and withdrew it to your own wallet, that address gets linked to you. If you transacted with someone who did something wrong (not your fault), that Bitcoin becomes "tainted" and is no longer fully fungible. Transparency creates these problems.
What people want is a secure place to store wealth: untraceable, uncensorable, and fully fungible—that's what crypto can offer. Zcash provides two types of addresses: transparent addresses (T-addresses) and shielded addresses (Z-addresses). This gives you privacy. On Zcash, when you move tokens into a shielded address, you gain privacy protection. The shielded pool is the total sum of all Zcash stored in shielded addresses.
Host: Where does the term "shielded" come from?
Josh: I think Paige came up with it. She's no longer at ECC, but from what I understand, she proposed the term "shielded" to Zuko before I joined. I don’t have all the details, but that’s my understanding.
Host: Some compare Zcash’s potential market to Switzerland’s $2 trillion in private banking assets. Is this comparison valid? What do you think Zcash’s TAM (Total Addressable Market) should be?
Josh: Using Swiss banks as a TAM reference is problematic—I think it's too small. Zcash’s goal is to enable wealth storage where you can self-custody without third parties, yet still spend it freely.
We’re seeing this in wallets too. With Near Intents, they’ve done something clever—they allow us to precisely send specified amounts.
Normally, swaps work like this: say I swap 1 BTC for Zcash, I get an amount based on liquidity and current price.
But they let us set: for example, I want to receive exactly 10 (say, 10 USDC), and the system automatically calculates how much BTC is needed. This means if I’m selling a T-shirt for $10 and only accept USDC, I can directly send you exactly 10 USDC from my shielded holdings. It takes just a few clicks in the wallet—super simple.
I keep my money in a “Swiss bank in my pocket,” but I can still spend it easily, with extremely low fees, high speed, and you receive the exact amount you wanted. So the TAM isn’t just for the few who can move money offshore—it’s for billions of people who want to securely store wealth and transact globally.
Host: Many seasoned Bitcoin supporters and crypto influencers (like Mert) are now getting excited about Zcash. Have you spoken with them? How does it feel to see Zcash’s community surging in popularity?
Josh: I know Mert—he’s amazing. He’s been crucial in spreading the message. You mentioned people first notice the price rise and then get interested—that’s very reflexive. Then they dive down the rabbit hole, start researching: what is this token? How does it work? Mert has been a massive force here. He’s like a machine, constantly explaining why privacy matters.
I’m deeply grateful to him and others in the ecosystem. Some I haven’t even met yet, but there are key figures and influencers—some public, some private—who take what we’re doing seriously, even if they prefer to stay out of the spotlight, and they’re engaging in their own ways.
Host: You mentioned fund flows into Zashi earlier. Are Bitcoin holders really contributing most of the inflows into Zcash?
Josh: I have data from a few days ago. Zashi has been live for about 8 weeks, but the feature to swap into ZEC launched more recently—just a few weeks ago. We first enabled swapping out from ZEC, then cross-chain payments, and only later added the ability to swap into ZEC.
In those 8 weeks, Near Intents drove roughly $100 million in volume, averaging $2.2 million per day. In terms of assets, USDC swapping into ZEC leads by far—around $11.5 million—followed by BTC at $6.6 million (data from a few days ago). BTC is second. Then Solana, USDT, and ETH follow, broadly in line with market cap expectations. USDC is first, BTC second—USDC volume is about twice that of BTC.
So while the narrative says many hardcore Bitcoin supporters are coming over, the data shows USDC inflows into Zcash are double that of BTC—$100 million in 8 weeks.
Host: Are these small numbers, or beyond your wildest expectations?
Josh: I don’t think they’re small, given our target is billions of people. I’m happy with this level of inflow, especially since we just launched—clear product-market fit. Obviously, people want to swap in and shield their wealth. Seeing this adoption rate is fantastic. I expect it to keep growing.
Ecosystem Growth, Regulatory Navigation, and Future Vision
Host: How is the developer ecosystem on Zcash shaping up? What apps are live or coming soon?
Josh: There are now multiple core development groups within the Zcash ecosystem. It wasn’t always like this. Now we have the Zcash Foundation (an independent 501c3), Shielded Labs (a Swiss nonprofit), Zuko’s team, Nate, Jason McGee, and others working on the core protocol. Plus companies like QEDIT, which strengthens cryptographic development for Zcash.
Bridges are also in progress. Someone is developing an Avalanche bridge—I expect it to launch soon. There’s a wrapped token on Solana that doesn’t offer privacy but allows access to some DeFi services. Others, like Aztec, are working on interoperability. StarkWare has even published papers on potential interoperability.
One cool thing is how closely aligned we are with the Near team—we’re tightly united. People are starting to realize this isn’t a zero-sum game. For Web3 to succeed, one chain won’t dominate everything. Each has its role, and we’re doing well in ours. We stay focused and don’t try to replicate what others already do well. Then we interoperate. Once interoperable, all kinds of possibilities unlock. That’s what’s happening in the Zcash ecosystem. I believe it will grow exponentially from here.
Host: Early on, privacy projects were prime targets for regulators. How did you navigate that high-pressure environment—balancing innovation with compliance? Has anything changed recently?
Josh: It was really hard. This is a great question, and I think the difficulty might be underestimated. We write code and publish it—this is protected speech under U.S. law. That’s always been a key principle for us. But we made a critical decision: we don’t operate infrastructure. If you run infrastructure, some politicians or officials might consider you a Money Services Business (MSB). I don’t think so. If you’re not holding funds according to FinCEN guidelines, you’re not an MSB. But some in the DOJ hold that view. So sometimes, you’re not even sure what the rules are. I know I can write code—that’s protected—but beyond that, it’s unclear.
Now, things are becoming clearer. Certain countries—well, I’ll just talk about the U.S.—I’ve spent a lot of time traveling between Washington, Tokyo, Singapore, meeting regulators. In some jurisdictions, Zcash was either banned or strangled. Regulators are now realizing that transparent blockchains are actually national security risks—they just never had good tools to address it. You can’t solve it by inserting backdoors into code, nor by forcing KYC on decentralized global public goods.
So I think challenges remain ahead. But I feel safer now. I no longer worry, like in those dark days, that the FBI might suddenly show up at my door.
Host: Tucker Carlson recently said he dislikes Bitcoin, calling it a surveillance tool created by the CIA. Do you think he’d be interested in Zcash?
Josh: I think he should be. I heard him say he can’t use Bitcoin because it creates a panopticon. I 100% agree. It’s the preferred tool for law enforcement and government tracking. But here’s the problem: when I talk to U.S. government officials, I point out—if you can fully see people’s transactions and history, so can your adversaries.
Host: You mentioned having conversations with U.S. regulators. How do those dialogues typically go? Are they genuinely open to Zcash’s value, or are they determined to shut it down?
Josh: Like anything, it depends on their motivations. But I think we’ve done something important. One person on my team, Paul, is based in Washington D.C., with a computer science background and a law degree from Georgetown. He taught me this: you can’t just fly into places like Washington and expect regulators to listen. You can’t walk in and assume they’ll trust you or care. It takes years of relationship-building.
Paul has been building relationships in D.C. and recently launched a project called "Pretty Good Policy," bringing together regulators, policymakers, and industry players for dialogue. We organize these discussions and events to get to know each other, slowly build trust—even though our views may differ sharply. For example, I joined a roundtable with people from the CIA and FBI, alongside folks like me who advocate for fully private, free money. That’s how we operate. It gives us a chance to speak truthfully when it matters.
Host: You're about to host a hackathon called Ziper Punk. What kind of projects or applications do you hope to see emerge?
Josh: Mert is driving this hackathon—it wasn’t initiated by us. In the past, everything had to come from ECC; if we didn’t push it, nothing got announced. Now—I see things happening everywhere, completely unaware of what’s going on. The ecosystem is so active. It’s amazing, though I sleep less now. But regarding the hackathon—I only saw the full announcement yesterday, so I’m not really in a position to oppose it, meaning I might not be the right person to answer.
Host: For newcomers just getting interested in Zcash, what’s the best entry point? What do you most want them to know first?
Josh: Download a wallet and start using it—you learn the most by doing. There’s a lot of FUD and misinformation about Zcash, some of it very intentional. There are good responses to FUD out there—people saying, “Here are the facts.” But some keep spreading the same falsehoods even after seeing the truth.
Follow the right people on Twitter to get information, but download the Zashi wallet. Post on Twitter: “Hey, I’m new to Zcash,” and share your unified address or z-address. See what happens. You’ll likely start receiving some Zcash into your wallet, along with encrypted messages. A feature Zcash supports is sending messages with transactions. You can send a 0 ZEC transaction with a message attached.
Then you’ll see people sharing the messages they received. As a wallet holder, you won’t necessarily see the sender unless they disclose it in the message. But I think this is a great way to begin understanding Zcash’s compatibility and privacy features. Take the transaction ID of the message you just received and look it up on a block explorer—you’ll see nothing. It’s untraceable back to you. You can also observe how your participation enhances the shielded pool, increasing privacy for everyone. So this, I believe, is the best starting point.
Host: What is your vision for the "endgame of privacy"? What do you predict this ecosystem will look like in three to five years?
Josh: I think we have a limited window of global attention. I’m not good at predictions, but I can tell you what we’re doing. We’re pushing this technology and capability to the limit—to provide secure money and protect people’s rights.
To achieve that, it must scale. At the base layer, a cryptographer and engineer named Shawn Bo has launched a project called Project Tachyon. Shawn is a mastermind, and Tachyon will fundamentally change how the underlying tech works. There’s something called a "nullifier"—I won’t go into detail—but it will allow us to serve hundreds of millions of users. He has aggressive goals, aiming for launch within the next 12 months. Then we can have ultra-fast transactions and more. So it’s not only more private than Bitcoin, but also scalable.
On the side, we’re building a robust suite of tools to make ZEC easy to use. Our goal is to make it effortless for ordinary people to get started and gain experience. It won’t be another multi-asset crypto wallet full of confusing, uncertain features. It will be simple and user-friendly, though we also need richer functionality. For example, what if I hold a large amount of Zcash and pass away? Can my family access my keys if they don’t know where they are? Things like that. How do we make it super simple—easy to understand and easy to execute? We’ll be unlocking these use cases in the coming months.
In my view, it’s a better Bitcoin. And Bitcoin has already been captured by fin-tech. That will be the battlefield: you either choose a fin-tech coin or a freedom coin. Our goal is to be the option for every single person on the planet.
Host: Eli Ben-Sasson, one of Zcash’s founding figures, is now at Starknet, where they’re trying to build Bitcoin Fi, potentially relying on Bitcoin activating OP_CAT. Do you think OP_CAT activation on Bitcoin poses a risk to Zcash?
Josh: If you want encrypted Bitcoin, you get it on Zcash—via Zcash. There will be mechanisms to move things across chains for different use cases, but what Starknet is doing is fundamentally different from Zcash. Bitcoin will never have these properties. You can try wrapping it with other things, but essentially, it is what it is—it remains true to its nature.
How to Participate in Zcash: The Path from $0 to $10 Billion
Host: Zcash has already attracted $100 million in capital inflows. How do we turn that into $1 billion, or even $10 billion?
Josh: We keep grinding. Keep doing our work at ECC. Keep great partners like Near. More bridges are coming. Maya is another DEX now supporting ZEC. We need more options like this outside traditional finance. So we’ll keep building bridges.
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