Zcash vs Monero: Shielded Transactions vs Ring Signatures

Zk-SNARKs for cryptographic privacy: Offers two transaction types: transparent (like Bitcoin) and fully shielded. This enables regulatory compliance (e.g., for exchanges) and auditability for institutional use cases. The shielded pool provides strong privacy for users who opt-in.

Designed for enterprise adoption. The optional privacy model allows entities to prove compliance with regulations like FATF's Travel Rule. This makes it a candidate for private settlements, confidential payroll, and compliant DeFi where selective disclosure is a requirement.

Ring Signatures & Stealth Addresses for mandatory privacy. Every transaction is private by default, obscuring sender, receiver, and amount. This provides strong, uniform anonymity for all users, eliminating metadata leakage and creating a consistent privacy set.

Superior fungibility guarantee. Since all coins are indistinguishable, there is no risk of tainted coins being blacklisted by exchanges or protocols. This makes it the preferred choice for censorship-resistant transactions and maximizing individual financial privacy without exceptions.

Zero-Knowledge Proofs (zk-SNARKs): Enables fully shielded transactions where sender, receiver, and amount are cryptographically hidden. This provides the strongest on-chain privacy guarantee. This matters for institutional compliance where auditability via viewing keys is required, or for high-value transfers needing maximal cryptographic assurance.

Mandatory Privacy by Default: Every transaction uses Ring Signatures, Stealth Addresses, and RingCT to obfuscate all metadata. There is no transparent ledger, creating a uniform privacy set for all users. This matters for censorship-resistant payments and use cases where the mere choice to use privacy must be hidden, maximizing user fungibility.

Your protocol requires:

• Selective Auditability for institutional partners.
• Maximum Cryptographic Security for shielded pools.
• Integration with ZK-proof ecosystems (e.g., cross-chain bridges using zk-SNARKs).
• Compliance with travel rule solutions via viewing keys.

Your application demands:

• Uniform, mandatory privacy for all users.
• Strong network-level anonymity (IP obfuscation).
• Fungibility as a first-principle, with no transparent transaction history.
• Avoidance of any trusted setup cryptographic assumptions.

All transactions are private by default using Ring Signatures and Confidential Transactions. This eliminates the risk of user error and ensures fungibility for all XMR. This matters for protocols requiring uniform asset treatment and regulatory simplicity (no selective compliance).

Every XMR is indistinguishable from another. No transaction history can be tainted or blacklisted, making it the gold standard for a truly fungible digital cash. This matters for financial sovereignty applications and censorship-resistant payment rails.

zk-SNARKs provide optional privacy (z-addresses). Users or institutions can choose transparent transactions for auditability (e.g., for regulated DeFi) or shielded for full privacy. This matters for enterprise adoption where proof-of-solvency or compliance is required.

Shielded transactions use zk-SNARKs, offering strong cryptographic privacy with relatively small proof sizes (~2 KB). Future-proof with planned upgrades to Halo 2 (no trusted setup). This matters for scalable private smart contracts and interoperability with other ZK systems.

Larger transaction sizes (~2-3 KB) and slower verification due to Ring Signatures can impact node sync times and light client efficiency. This matters for high-throughput payment processors or resource-constrained environments.

Relies on a trusted setup for the original Sapling parameters (though performed via MPC). Optional privacy can lead to metadata leakage if users don't shield correctly. This matters for risk models and protocols demanding maximal, trust-minimized privacy.