Zenrock Wrapped Zcash Unified Custody Layer The token, known as zenZEC, has seen approximately $15 million in total trading volume since its debut on the Solana blockchain on October 31.
While the number is certainly insignificant compared to blockbuster crypto tokens that routinely trade in the billions, it indicates something more fundamental: the introduction of privacy as a feature in decentralized finance (DeFi), currently leveraging the Solana network, which is known for its faster speed than Ethereum.
It reflects a growing appetite among merchants and institutions for solutions that strike a balance between usability, privacy and security.
Aditya Dave, co-founder of Zenrock, put it best: “Privacy is central to the ethos of cryptocurrencies. In the last two years, tradfi has come in and taken control through stablecoins, acting as institutional buyers for large companies. As a result, privacy as a principle of cryptocurrencies has been sacrificed.”
“Zenrock brought ZEC to Solana through zenZEC to combine the speed and access of Solana with the privacy of zCash,” he told CoinDesk.
zenZEC, backed 1:1 by native ZEC, is packaged on Zcash via Zenrock’s decentralized multi-party computing (MPC) network. This network generates multiple independent secret shares from the private key, which are then distributed across a network of nodes mostly operated by independent third parties.
In other words, the private key never exists in its entirety anywhere; instead, it is split mathematically and these distributed nodes collectively sign transactions or generate public keys without exposing the entire key to any party.
This eliminates single points of failure and significantly improves overall security. Because it operates off-chain and independently of any specific blockchain, Zenrock’s MPC network is highly compatible with cross-chain (omnichain) applications.
Therefore, zenZEC is designed to integrate seamlessly with Solana’s decentralized exchanges and yield protocols, providing Zcash holders with real exposure to on-chain DeFi for the first time in over seven years.
On-chain incentives are already working on Orca, one of Solana’s leading decentralized exchanges, driving liquidity and adoption. Dave has stated that zenZEC users will soon be able to deploy the token as collateral in decentralized finance protocols on Solana.
ZEC has been on the rise since September, achieving a 16x rally to $659, according to data source CoinDesk.
