About this Chart

The shielded ratio measures what percentage of Zcash's total circulating supply is held in privacy-preserving shielded pools rather than in the public transparent pool. This metric serves as a key indicator of privacy adoption on the network—a higher ratio means more users are choosing to keep their funds private.

The calculation divides the total ZEC held across all three shielded pools (Sprout, Sapling, and Orchard) by the entire chain supply. When users shield their ZEC, they move funds from the transparent pool where balances are publicly visible into one of the shielded pools where amounts and ownership are cryptographically hidden. When they deshield, funds move back to the transparent pool.

The shielded ratio has evolved over time as the network introduced new privacy protocols. Initially, most shielded funds were in Sprout, then migrated to the more efficient Sapling after its October 2018 launch, and are now increasingly moving to Orchard since its May 2022 activation. A rising shielded ratio indicates growing privacy adoption, while changes in the ratio can reflect user behavior, regulatory developments, or the availability of wallet software that supports shielded addresses.