Dash (DASH) against Zcash (ZEC)
Dash and Zcash next to each other: how the prices travelled, what differs under the hood and what each coin is built for.
DASH and ZEC: what is under the hood
| Dash (DASH) | Zcash (ZEC) | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $60.08 | $1,464.04 |
| Ticker | DASH | ZEC |
| Type | coin of its own network | coin of its own network |
| Launched | 2014 | 2016 |
| Built by | Evan Duffield | Zooko Wilcox-O'Hearn |
| Consensus | Proof of Work (X11) + masternodes | Proof of Work (Equihash) |
| Block | ~2.5 min | ~1.3 min |
| Privacy | optional | optional |
| In circulation | 12.83 M DASH | 16.94 M ZEC |
| Market cap | $770.19 M | $24.77 B |
| Rank by cap | #87 | #9 |
| Supply cap | — | 21 M ZEC |
Source: CoinGecko, Sep 18, 2026 01:24. Where these numbers come from
Who went where: DASH and ZEC
Both prices start the period at 100, so the chart shows which one rose or fell harder — not the prices themselves.
| Period | DASH | ZEC |
|---|---|---|
| Week | +0.12% | +9.62% |
| Month | +92.62% | +165.41% |
| Quarter | +65.65% | +199.42% |
Over the quarter their daily moves line up at 0.57 (they travel alike).
What each one is built for: DASH and ZEC
- Payments and transfersDash
- Private paymentsZcash
How Dash and Zcash are built
How Dash works
Dash combines Proof of Work mining (X11 algorithm, a block about every 2.5 minutes) with a second layer of masternodes, which require 1,000 DASH as collateral. Masternodes provide InstantSend, ChainLocks against chain reorganizations and optional CoinJoin mixing, and vote on the budget for development.
What Dash is for
Dash is used for everyday payments and transfers where speed matters: InstantSend locks a transaction within seconds.
How Zcash works
Zcash has two kinds of addresses: transparent ones, which work like Bitcoin, and shielded ones, where the sender, recipient and amount are encrypted with zk-SNARK proofs. Blocks are produced about every 75 seconds with Proof of Work (Equihash), and the supply is capped at 21 million.
What Zcash is for
ZEC is used for payments where the user chooses the level of privacy: an open transfer for transparency or a shielded transfer for confidentiality.