Author: Nancy, PANews

The "Strong Whale Currency" ZEC has risen again.

From a low point of around $200 this year to nearly $1500 now, ZEC has experienced an extremely strong upward trend, almost not giving the market a chance to breathe. As the price continues to rise, the market heat for ZEC has been constantly pushed up, making this veteran privacy coin one of the most eye-catching assets in the recent cryptocurrency market.

With the continuous rise in coin prices, funds and attention are also flowing back into the Zcash ecosystem, with many NFT projects recently gaining market popularity.

This article from PNews summarizes eight high-heat NFT projects that have been issued or are about to be issued in the market. Among them, some NFT-related tweets have reached millions of views, with NFT auction scales reaching tens of millions of dollars. Their gameplay and positioning also vary, some focusing on privacy identity and community culture, while others further incorporate practical application scenarios and income distribution mechanisms into NFTs.

zkSNARKs

zkSNARKs is a privacy identity collectible project with a total of 10,000 pieces. Among them, 8,000 are sold through public blind bidding, 1,000 are allocated to early Snarklist participants, and another 1,000 are reserved for community funding, contributors, artists, and teams.

The name zkSNARKs comes from the cryptographic technology behind Zcash, zk-SNARKs (Zero-Knowledge Succinct Non-Interactive Arguments of Knowledge), which allows users to prove that a piece of information or transaction meets specific conditions without revealing specific data. Zcash has previously used this technology for shielded transactions and has promoted the development of zero-knowledge proofs through technologies like Halo 2.

Unlike ordinary NFTs, the core feature of zkSNARKs is that identity and ownership information is kept private by default, meaning external users cannot directly query the holder of a specific identity through on-chain data. According to the project team, these identities may be used for community access, reputation systems, and other privacy scenarios in the future, with specific functionalities still under construction.

This auction adopted a unified clearing price mechanism, attracting a total of 16,971 bids, with a clearing price of 1.5 ZEC, roughly equivalent to $2,190, and a total transaction of about 25,305 ZEC (approximately $36.94 million), with unsuccessful bidders receiving full refunds.

It is important to note that Bitcoin Ordinals developer Leonidas publicly accused the zkSNARKs team of being continuous "entrepreneurs" in the Ordinals field, with their projects largely being scams.

Zec Bit

Zec Bit is a native NFT project based on Zcash, providing an NFT marketplace and issuance platform that supports NFT trading, offers, and reservations. Its core idea is not to simply create PFP NFTs, but to explore an NFT trading model of "public assets, default privacy of ownership" using Zcash Shielded Assets (ZSA).

On traditional public chains, NFTs usually disclose holding addresses, transaction records, and relationships between wallets, whereas ZecBit aims to hide this information. Information such as project collection, supply, issuance records, etc., can still be verified on-chain, but specifics about who holds it, how much is held, and historical transactions are kept private by default. Users can choose to disclose information when they need to prove ownership.

The first series of ZecBit is ZecBit Genesis — Shielded, which issued 3,333 pixel-art generative NFTs and opened for free minting on September 3, which has now been fully minted and entered the secondary market, with the current floor price around 0.36 ZEC. Users holding Genesis NFTs can also accumulate points for priority participation in subsequent platform projects.

It is worth noting that ZecBit currently primarily operates on the ZSA testnet. The project team stated that once the Zcash mainnet completes ZSA activation, the corresponding assets will be migrated to users' shielding wallets, and the specific mainnet launch time is not determined by the ZecBit team.

ZADDR

ZADDR is a privacy experimental project based on Zcash, emphasizing "readable identity + default privacy payment." The core idea of the project is that a user's name can be public, but transaction information such as payment amounts, senders, and receivers is kept shielded by default.

In terms of identity and collectibles, ZADDR launched a total of 2,800 hand-drawn pixel avatar NFTs, stored in Zcash's Orchard privacy pool. The series introduction tweet has now exceeded 1.5 million views. ZADDR has not yet announced the official mint time and price, but whitelist applications are open. According to the project team, they have already received thousands of applications. Applicants need to log in through their X accounts, complete specified tasks, and submit a Zcash address, which will then be manually reviewed by the team.

In addition to NFTs, ZADDR also attempts to establish a more user-friendly identity system for Zcash. Users can bind a unique name of 3 to 20 characters without directly using the Zcash address, which can be as long as 178 characters. After entering the name, the system can parse the corresponding address and complete the payment. Users can also set their own Zcash address corresponding to the name, pointing to ZADDR, hardware wallets, or exchanges.

Regarding asset security, ZADDR uses a method of locally generated and managed keys, and the private key is not uploaded to the server. Zcash-related transaction construction, signing, and zero-knowledge proofs are all completed on the user's device's browser, and the server only receives the already signed complete transaction.

In terms of cross-chain capabilities, ZADDR launched Crosspay, achieving cross-chain asset entry and exit through NEAR Intents, currently supporting networks such as Bitcoin, Ethereum, Base, Solana, and Tron, with the intention of covering more cross-chain paths. Users can exchange assets like BTC, ETH, USDC for ZEC and can also convert shielded ZEC to other chains. A 1% fee is charged for cross-chain withdrawals, while transfers into Zcash are free of charge.

Additionally, ZADDR also designed the ZAD reputation system. Users can earn ZAD through actual behaviors such as sending, receiving, trading, cross-chain activities, and claiming names. This point cannot be purchased, sold, or transferred, resembling an on-chain reputation mechanism that records the user's product usage.

BITFOOTS

BITFOOTS is positioned as a themed NFT series based on "Bigfoot." It is introduced that Bitfoots are not a fast, bulk-generated NFT series; each piece is an independent 1/1 work created through planning and manual effort. From artistic creation to the construction of the "Bigfoot" basic role, worldview, and overall visual direction, the project has accumulated over 1,000 hours of effort.

Unlike traditional PFPs on public ledgers, BITFOOTS combines the mysterious narrative of "Bigfoot" with Zcash's privacy mechanism. The project team describes it as "hidden beings in the on-chain forest," with the collectible existing on-chain, but holders do not need to publicly display their complete wallet profile like ordinary NFTs; users are more like "discovering" a Bitfoot on-chain rather than simply purchasing an avatar.

The project was initially planned to be issued through Bitcoin Ordinals. The team had already completed the entire series' engraving on Bitcoin and collaborated directly with the Magic Eden team to complete related processes, but the issuance was ultimately postponed due to market changes. Now, the project chooses to restart on Zcash, hoping to redefine the issuance method of this work through its privacy features.

Currently, the minting price for BITFOOTS is about $5, payable in ZEC, and the project team states that this fee is primarily used to cover Launchpad and network costs. The project adopts an application-based whitelist system, where users must submit an application before being approved to participate in minting, and approved users can also invite friends to join.

It is noteworthy that BITFOOTS also designed a dual-chain model of Zcash + Bitcoin Ordinals. After minting on Zcash, users can approve and submit the corresponding Bitcoin Ordinals address to receive the Bitcoin version for free. Some works also have exclusive colors or features for Ordinals.

Zec Punks

Zec Punks is the first Punks-style NFT series in the Zcash ecosystem, with a total issuance of 1,555 pixel Punks, each piece generated through hand-drawn feature combinations based on a 24×24 grid, with an overall style similar to the classic NFT project CryptoPunks. The project team states that there are no hidden reserve pieces in this series, nor will a second version be released.

This NFT has completed minting on September 15, with a mint price of 0.015 ZEC. Participants must use a Zcash shielded address starting with u1; transparent addresses cannot participate, and the entire series has now sold out. In addition to the NFTs themselves, the official Zec Punks recently began previewing subsequent gameplay, but specific plans have not yet been disclosed.

ZecCat

ZecCat is a pixel-art cat NFT project being advanced on the Zcash mainnet, planning to issue 3,333 unique pixel cats. The project adopts the ZRC-721 JSON inscriptions format, where NFTs exist as inscriptions and their corresponding on-chain carriers, with ownership transferred according to the publicly disclosed application layer rules along with the UTXO carrying the inscriptions. Currently, the project has not opened minting or trading, with specific mint times and prices unknown.

Currently, ZecCat has opened whitelist applications. Users do not need to connect wallets or pay fees; they only need to submit an X username and a transparent Zcash mainnet address (t1 address) to participate, with each X account and t1 address allowed to submit only once. The whitelist will be filtered using a random GTD and FCFS mechanism, and the project team has set additional bonuses for original content contributors who meet the criteria.

In terms of NFT security mechanisms, ZecCat has designed a separate NFT Vault. According to the complete system design disclosed by the project team, user wallets will generate a Payment Address for daily payments and an NFT Vault Address specifically for storing NFT carriers, minimizing the risk of mistakenly using an NFT carrier as a payment input during regular transfers. The project team also plans to allow users to complete signatures for minting, transfers, listings, and purchases locally while recognizing and protecting NFT carriers through their wallets.

In addition to NFT issuance, ZecCat also plans to build its own Marketplace, supporting features for browsing collectibles, portfolio management, listings, purchase requests, and item offers, and further designing utility functions and platform fee discounts for NFT holders.

ZecFrogs

ZecFrogs is a pixel frog NFT project on Zcash, planning to issue 6,969 Pixel Frogs. The project team positions it as one of the first frog NFT series on ZEC and aims to use the frog series as an entry point to further build the "Pond" ecosystem around Zcash.

Currently, ZecFrogs is about to open free minting, only supporting u1 shielded addresses from the Noir wallet. Users need to reserve at least 0.007 ZEC in their wallet in advance for gas and related protocol fees. Users who have not entered the Froglist can still apply for the whitelist through the official website.

Besides the NFTs themselves, ZecFrogs is also advancing the ZecPad infrastructure, positioning it as a launchpad and marketplace for Zcash ecosystem, aiming to provide functions such as NFT issuance and secondary trading.

Zecutives

Zecutives is the first native NFT series launched by the privacy NFT market ZEC MARKET, issuing a total of 1,111 pixel-style "executive" avatars, with holders participating in a portion of the revenue distribution generated by subsequent new projects on the platform, which is about to open for free minting.

Zecutives also emphasizes the public nature of the floor price while keeping the identities of holders private by default. The NFTs and related assets are stored in Zcash's Shielded Vault, where external users cannot directly view specific holder information.

In terms of minting mechanism, Zecutives does not directly use ZEC for minting, but instead uses the token $EXZEC. This token has been launched on Stonkfun and forms a trading pair with ZEC, with a total supply of 1 billion tokens. Users need to burn $EXZEC on ZEC MARKET to mint Zecutives, starting at approximately 80,000 $EXZEC, increasing by 3% for every 25 NFTs minted, with a total cap of 1,111, and a maximum of three per vault.

Regarding the revenue mechanism, this NFT indicates that a 10% platform fee will be charged for future new series minted on ZEC MARKET, with 2% distributed to Zecutives holders, weighted according to the number of NFTs held. Previous series that have already been migrated to the platform, such as Genesis and Punks, are not included in this distribution mechanism. Of the burned $EXZEC, half is destroyed while the other half enters the project treasury.

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