Onchain Activity

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This chart breaks down Zcash's transaction activity by both transaction type (which pools are used) and protocol version (which consensus rules apply). Transaction types reveal how users interact with different chain value pools, while protocol versions show the network's technical evolution through successive upgrades.

**Transaction Types:**

**Coinbase**: Special transactions created by miners to claim block rewards and transaction fees, generating new ZEC that enters the transparent pool.

**Transparent**: Public transactions using Bitcoin-like inputs and outputs where addresses and amounts are visible on the blockchain.

**Sprout**: Transactions using the original privacy protocol from October 2016, now deprecated after the November 2020 Canopy upgrade stopped accepting new funds.

**Sapling**: Transactions using the efficient privacy protocol introduced in October 2018, offering strong privacy with mobile wallet support.

**Orchard**: Transactions using the latest privacy protocol activated in May 2022, providing the strongest privacy guarantees through advanced cryptography.

**Mixed Sapling + Orchard**: Transactions that combine both Sapling and Orchard components, allowing users to move or consolidate funds across these two shielded pools simultaneously.

**Protocol Versions:**

**v1-v2 Legacy**: Original Zcash transaction formats supporting only transparent and Sprout operations, used before the Overwinter upgrade.

**v3 Overwinter**: Introduced in June 2018, adding transaction expiry heights and version group IDs for structured network upgrades.

**v4 Sapling**: Introduced in October 2018, enabling the efficient Sapling shielded protocol with improved proof systems.

**v5 Orchard**: Introduced in May 2022 with NU5, supporting the Orchard protocol, unified addresses, and the latest consensus rules.

Transaction count by type and protocol version

Zcash: Transactions

Zcash implements two complementary transaction control mechanisms that determine when transactions become valid or invalid. Lock time, inherited from Bitcoin, prevents transactions from being included in blocks before a specified block height or Unix timestamp—values below 500,000,000 are interpreted as block heights while higher values represent timestamps. Expiry height, introduced with the Overwinter upgrade in 2018, serves the opposite purpose by setting an absolute block number after which transactions become invalid, preventing stale transactions from remaining in the mempool indefinitely. When transactions are created, the expiry height is calculated as the current block height plus an expiry delta (typically 40 blocks, or about 50 minutes), though users can set custom expiry heights up to block 500,000,000. The charts show expiry heights reaching into the tens of millions, representing absolute block numbers far in the future where these transactions will expire. 

Lock time and expiry height usage across network transactions

Zcash: Transaction Control

### Transaction Components  
  
Zcash transactions contain different components based on the privacy protocols used:  
  
**Transparent Protocol**   
- Public transactions similar to Bitcoin  
- Components: `vin` (inputs) and `vout` (outputs) 
- No privacy, all details visible on blockchain  
- Typical sizes: P2PKH input ~148 bytes, output ~34 bytes  
  
**Shielded Protocols**  
- Privacy-preserving transactions using zero-knowledge proofs  
- **Sprout**: Uses `vJoinSplit` with JoinSplit descriptions   
- **Sapling**: Uses `saplingBundle` with spends and outputs 
- **Orchard**: Uses `orchardBundle` with actions  
  
### Size Breakdown by Protocol  
  
**Transparent Transactions**  
- Only `vin` and `vout` fields  
- No cryptographic proofs  
- Smallest size, lowest fees  
  
**Shielded Transactions**  
- Additional components for privacy:  
  - Sapling spend: 384 bytes  
  - Sapling output: 948 bytes  
  - Orchard action: 820 bytes + proofs  
- Zero-knowledge proofs increase size significantly  
- Higher fees due to larger size and complexity  

Size distribution statistics, total transaction bytes, and average sizes by protocol type (transparent vs shielded).

Zcash: Transaction Size

Transaction count for shielding and deshielding activity

Zcash: Private Transactions

Total transfer volume shows the aggregate value of all transactions settled on the network — essentially how much ZEC is moving around each day.

**Transparent transfers**: Value moving between public addresses where amounts are visible on the blockchain.

**Shielding operations**: Funds moving from the transparent pool into one of the privacy-preserving shielded pools (Sprout, Sapling, or Orchard).

**Deshielding operations**: Funds moving from shielded pools back to transparent addresses, often to interact with exchanges or services that don't support shielded addresses.

**Shielded-to-shielded transfers**: Fully private transfers that stay entirely within shielded pools, offering the strongest privacy since no amounts ever touch the transparent pool.

Total ZEC transferred across transparent and shielded pools

Zcash: Total Transfer Volume

Pool flows track the daily net change in value held within each of Zcash's chain value pools, revealing how users are moving funds between transparent and shielded storage. A positive flow (or delta) means more ZEC entered that pool than left it that day, while a negative flow means more ZEC left than entered. These movements are calculated directly from the blockchain's consensus-level pool tracking, which maintains precise cumulative balances for each pool at every block height.

The flows reveal several types of user behavior:

**Transparent pool flows**: Reflect mining rewards entering circulation, users shielding funds for privacy, or deshielding to interact with exchanges and services.

**Sprout flows**: Show the final movements out of the deprecated original privacy protocol, as users migrated remaining funds to newer protocols before it stopped accepting new deposits in November 2020.

**Sapling flows**: Capture the efficient privacy protocol introduced in October 2018, showing shielding activity, internal transfers, and more recently, migrations toward the newer Orchard protocol.

**Orchard flows**: Display adoption of the latest privacy protocol since May 2022, with positive flows indicating users moving funds into the most advanced shielded pool.

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