Shielded supply is one of the most Zcash-specific metrics because it points to how much ZEC sits inside privacy-preserving pools instead of only transparent addresses.
Key Facts
- House of Zcash calculates shielded supply as the indexed balances of the Orchard, Sapling, and Sprout value pools.
- The snapshot is timestamped and reconciled against transparent, shielded, and lockbox chain value.
- The metric is not the same as daily private payment volume.
- Pool balances are visible at the aggregate level even though individual shielded payment details remain encrypted.
Why shielded supply matters
Price tells you market demand. Shielded supply tells you something more Zcash-native: how much value is sitting inside the privacy side of the system.
It is not a perfect adoption metric, but it is much more relevant to Zcash's purpose than a generic transaction count.
What is included in the number
The shielded total shown here is Orchard plus Sapling plus the older Sprout pool. Transparent ZEC and the protocol lockbox are displayed separately and are not counted as shielded supply. The data comes from ZcashInfo's node-backed API and is captured server-side before the site is built.
Every refresh checks that transparent value, each shielded pool, and lockbox value reconcile to the indexed chain total. If the fetch or reconciliation fails, the site keeps the last validated snapshot instead of publishing a partial total.
What shielded supply can tell you
A larger shielded balance means more ZEC is being held inside pools designed to protect transaction details. Tracking the mix between Orchard, Sapling, and Sprout also shows how value migrates as wallet support and protocol generations change.
The metric is useful as a stock measure: it describes where value sits at a point in time. It can support questions about privacy adoption, but it cannot answer who owns the ZEC, why it moved, or how many people are using it.
What the metric cannot prove
Shielded supply is not private payment volume. The same coins can move many times without changing the end-of-period pool balance, and a large balance can remain still. It is also not a count of users because shielded ownership is not publicly enumerable.
Indexer lag and chain reorganizations can briefly affect a snapshot. That is why the timestamp, block height, source, and pool-level reconciliation belong beside the number. A naked percentage without that context is weaker than it looks.
FAQ
Is shielded supply the same as private transaction volume?
No. Shielded supply is value held in shielded pools. Transaction volume is movement over time.
Why track shielded supply?
It gives a Zcash-specific signal about use of the privacy-preserving side of the network.
Can shielded supply be measured perfectly?
Aggregate pool balances can be derived from chain state, but any published snapshot can lag the tip or reflect indexer behavior. Check its timestamp, block height, source, and methodology.