What’s the core difference between Monero and Zcash?

[cryptoenthusiast]

At a high level, Monero and Zcash both aim to provide financial privacy, but they approach it very differently. Monero enforces privacy by default, meaning every transaction hides the sender, receiver, and amount automatically.

Zcash, on the other hand, offers optional privacy. Users can choose between transparent transactions (similar to Bitcoin) or shielded transactions that hide details. This flexibility appeals to some users and institutions, but critics argue that optional privacy reduces overall anonymity because fewer users opt into private transfers.

[96f402f86e]

strongest crypto in the world doesn’t help much if barely anyone uses the shielded side

[Revenant]

Privacy only compounds if it’s widely used.

[Capybara_Capybara]

Optional privacy fragments the anonymity set.

[The_Walking_Dead]

Fragmentation makes patterns visible.