Monero (XMR) and Zcash (ZEC): a comparison
Monero and Zcash set side by side: how the quotes moved, how the protocols are built and what tasks each one was made for.
Specifications of XMR and ZEC
| Monero (XMR) | Zcash (ZEC) | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $561.12 | $1,143.33 |
| Ticker | XMR | ZEC |
| Type | coin of its own network | coin of its own network |
| Launched | 2014 | 2016 |
| Consensus | Proof of Work (RandomX) | Proof of Work (Equihash) |
| Block | ~2 min | ~1.3 min |
| Supply cap | no cap | 21 M ZEC |
| Privacy | always on | optional |
| In circulation | 18.83 M XMR | 17.03 M ZEC |
| Market cap | $10.57 B | $19.47 B |
| Rank by cap | #13 | #10 |
| Built by | — | Zooko Wilcox-O'Hearn |
Source: CoinGecko, Nov 10, 2026 13:57. How these numbers are counted
Price movement: XMR and ZEC
The start of the period is taken as 100 for both prices: the chart shows the difference in movement, not the quotes themselves.
| Period | XMR | ZEC |
|---|---|---|
| 7 days | −3.31% | +2.97% |
| 30 days | +12.49% | −4.31% |
| 90 days | +55% | +142.82% |
The link between their daily moves over the quarter is 0.31 (they travel apart).
The tasks XMR and ZEC were made for
- Confidential transfersMonero and Zcash
- Transfers and paymentsMonero
How Monero and Zcash are built
How Monero works
Everything is hidden at once, with no settings to turn on: ring signatures mix decoys in with the real sender, stealth addresses generate a one-time destination address for each payment, and RingCT hides the amount. The coin is mined with the RandomX algorithm — designed for ordinary processors — and a block comes out roughly every 2 minutes. When the main issuance ends, miners will be left with a constant small reward: 0.6 XMR per block.
What Monero is for
People turn to Monero when payments and holdings should not be on public display: otherwise anyone who knows the address sees both the balance and the whole history of operations. Coins in the blockchain are indistinguishable from one another, so XMR is fully fungible.
How Zcash works
Addresses come in two kinds — transparent, arranged as in bitcoin, and shielded, where sender, recipient and amount are covered by zk-SNARK proofs. The consensus is Proof of Work on Equihash, a block appears roughly every 75 seconds, and the supply cap is 21 million coins.
What Zcash is for
ZEC suits cases where the payer chooses the level of privacy: an open transfer if transparency is needed, a shielded one if confidentiality is.