ZEC Inflation Analysis · October 2026 · Supply growing · projected to keep growing

Zcash (ZEC) supply is growing at a steady mining pace: +0.95% over the 90 days from Aug 1 to Oct 30 2026, and about +0.95% again over the next 90 days. Blocks paid out 161,230 ZEC of new coins, and nothing was bought back or burned, so every new coin added to supply. ZEC has a hard cap of 21M, no vesting and no unlocks; mining is the only way new ZEC is made.

The verdict, in one paragraph

Over the last 90 days the Zcash chain's supply rose from 16.85M ZEC to 17.01M ZEC, a net +0.95%. Our projection for the next 90 days is the same +0.95%, because the Nov 5 2026 upgrade changes how often blocks arrive but not how many ZEC are paid each day. Other trackers show +1.29% for the same 90 days, a gap of 0.34 points, so the coin page carries no warning note. The label is simple: ZEC is a proof-of-work coin in the middle of its halving cycle, adding close to 3.8% a year to its supply, with nothing yet pulling coins back out.

Sell pressure: where new ZEC comes from

Protocol inflation is the only source of new ZEC. Each block pays 1.5625 ZEC today, and between Aug 1 and Oct 30 2026 the chain produced 103,187 blocks, which paid 161,230 ZEC, about 1,790 ZEC a day. Blocks came a little slower than the 75-second target, at about 75.4 seconds each, so the measured count is what we use.

That block pay is split three ways. Miners keep 80%, or 1.25 ZEC a block. The community grants fund gets 8%. The last 12% goes into a lockbox written into the protocol, which grew from 53.56K ZEC on Aug 1 2026 to 72.91K ZEC on Oct 29 2026, exactly its share of every block. All three shares are new coins, and all three count as circulating from the moment they are mined.

Vesting unlocks are zero. Zcash never sold tokens, and the founders' share of mining pay ended at the first halving in November 2020, so no insider schedule is left to release.

Foundation and unscheduled unlocks are zero too. The lockbox, the coinholder fund wallet, the grants fund and the Zcash Foundation all hold ZEC that was already counted when it was mined, so when they pay grants or sell, no new supply appears. Long-term locked or bankruptcy supply is zero: no court-held or estate pile of ZEC is waiting to be released.

Buy pressure: where new ZEC goes

No programmatic buyback exists. No contract and no treasury buys ZEC back for the network.

The protocol fee burn booked zero for the last 90 days, because every fee went to the miner who found the block. The chain's own supply count rose by exactly the block pay and not one coin less, which confirms that nothing was destroyed. That changes with the Nov 5 2026 upgrade: from then on, 60%of each block's fees is held out of supply in a reserve that starts paying back to miners around February 2031. Zcash fees are small, only a few ZEC a day, so this removes well under 0.01% of supply over the next 90 days and still rounds to zero here.

Foundation buying is zero. The Zcash Foundation and the grant funds pay ZEC out; they do not buy it. US Zcash funds, European exchange-traded products and listed companies that hold ZEC all buy coins that already circulate, so they move coins between owners without taking any out of the count.

New long-term locks are zero as well. Zcash has no staking, so nothing is locked to earn a reward. The upgrade will freeze the 22.26K ZEC still sitting in Sprout, the oldest private pool, but those coins stay in the supply count, so the freeze does not shrink it.

Foundation and overhang

Four funds hold large amounts of ZEC, and every one of those coins already counts as circulating. The protocol lockbox held 72.91K ZEC on Oct 29 2026 and adds about 215 ZEC a day. Its last payout was 78,750 ZEC in November 2025, sent to the coinholder fund wallet run by three key-holder groups.

That coinholder fund wallet held 70.86K ZEC on Oct 30 2026 and last paid grants on Oct 16 2026, after a coinholder vote. The community grants fund holds about 91.45K ZEC plus cash, according to figures shared in the Oct 26 2026 debate over its future. The Zcash Foundation reported about 79K ZEC at the end of June 2026. None of these balances is new supply; if they sell, the coins simply change hands.

How ZEC compares to other proof-of-work chains

Zcash copies Bitcoin's money plan: a 21M cap and a halving about every four years. The difference is where it sits in that plan. Bitcoin has had four halvings and grows about 0.21% every 90 days. Zcash launched in 2016, seven years after Bitcoin, and has had two halvings, the last in November 2024, so its growth is still roughly four times faster at about 0.95% per 90 days.

Monero takes a different road: a small fixed reward per block that never ends, so it has no cap and its rate falls slowly forever. Zcash will keep halving instead, with its next cut due around late 2028. Zcash is also the rare proof-of-work chain that sends part of every block to development funds instead of miners alone, the 8% and 12% shares described above. Bitcoin and Monero send every new coin to miners.

What to watch in the next 90 days

Around Nov 5 2026, block 3,543,405: the NU7 upgrade cuts block time from 75 seconds to 25 seconds and pays a third as much per block, so ZEC per day stays the same. The same upgrade starts holding back 60% of fees and freezes the coins left in Sprout. If the upgrade slips, nothing in this ledger changes.

The grants-fund debate, opened Oct 26 2026: a Zcash co-founder proposed ending the 8% grants share and sending it to the reserve instead, and at least three other plans followed. Any of them needs a later network upgrade, so none can change the next 90 days. If one passed, new ZEC reaching the market would fall by up to 8%.

The next coinholder grant vote: votes on the coinholder fund come about every three months. A payout moves coins that are already counted, so it adds nothing to supply, but it does put more ZEC in the hands of people who may sell.

Late 2028 and February 2031: further out, the third halving cuts the pay per day to about 895 ZEC, and in 2031 the fee reserve starts paying back to miners. Both are outside the next 90 days.

Summary

Zcash adds about 1,790 new ZEC a day through mining, which came to 161,230 ZEC or +0.95% of supply between Aug 1 and Oct 30 2026. Nothing is bought back, burned or locked, and the fee holdback that starts with the Nov 5 2026 upgrade is far too small to change that. The lockbox, the coinholder fund, the grants fund and the Zcash Foundation hold large piles of ZEC, but all of it is already counted, so their spending adds no new supply. Expect about +0.95% again over the next 90 days, with the next real cut in new supply coming at the late-2028 halving.

MrNasDog Pressure Framework analysis of ZEC, Metric 1 — Inflation. Data + explanation only. Not financial advice. Checked Oct 30 2026.