Unified custody layer Zenrock’s wrapped Zcash (ZEC) token, known as zenZEC, has recorded approximately $15 million in total trading volume since its debut on the Solana blockchain on Oct. 31.
While the number is undoubtedly paltry compared to blockbuster crypto tokens that routinely trade in billions, it signals something more pivotal: 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 traders and institutions for solutions that strike a balance between usability and privacy and security.
Aditya Dave, co-founder of Zenrock, put it best: “Privacy is so core to the ethos of crypto. Over the past two years, tradfi has come in and taken over via stablecoins, acting as institutional buyers of majors. As a result, privacy as a tenet of crypto has been sacrificed.”
“Zenrock brought ZEC over to Solana via zenZEC to combine Solana’s speed and access with zCash’s privacy,” he told CoinDesk.
zenZEC, backed 1:1 by native ZEC, is Zcash wrapped via Zenrock’s decentralized multi-party computation (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 full anywhere; instead, it is mathematically split, and these distributed nodes collectively sign transactions or generate public keys without exposing the complete key to any single party.
This eliminates single points of failure and significantly enhances 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.
zenZEC is therefore built to integrate seamlessly with Solana’s decentralized exchanges and yield protocols, providing Zcash holders with real on-chain DeFi exposure for the first time in over seven years.
On-chain incentives are already at work 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 across decentralized finance protocols on Solana.
ZEC has been on a tear since September, notching a 16-fold rally to $659, according to data source CoinDesk.
