In a move that would make even the Patrician lean back in his throne and mutter something about ethics and hats, Multichain DEX aggregator Shapeshift announced it would dabble in shielded (private) transactions with Zcash, the cryptocurrency that treats privacy like a suit of armor with an attitude. 🕶️💎
According to a Thursday announcement shared with CryptoMoon, ShapeShift’s self-custodial decentralized exchange (DEX) aggregator and self-custody wallet is now winking at Zcash (ZEC) shielded transactions. The announcement comes with a grant of $50,000 from the Zcash Community Grants to prop up ShapeShift’s technical and marketing mischief-er, investments.
According to the announcement, this daring gambit is meant to “offer true privacy on-chain for its users.”
This is the same outfit that once delisted anoncoins-privacy coins-in 2020 under the glare of regulators, back when ShapeShift wore centralized admin panel as a badge of honour. Then it swapped the cape for a cape-and-DAO combo, trimming Know Your Customer duties the following year.
“Integrating shielded ZEC into ShapeShift DAO expands access to unstoppable private money,” chirped the Zcash community grants team, with the enthusiasm of a librarian who just found a secret vault. “It gives the ShapeShift community a decentralized path to acquire and use ZEC without leaning on centralized exchanges, aligning perfectly with privacy, freedom, and self-custody that Zcash was built for.”
The infrastructure
A ShapeShift decentralized autonomous organization (DAO) representative said in the Zcash forums that “ShapeShift today is a DAO, not the centralized company that [it was] back in 2016.”
“Back then, regulatory pressure did lead to ZEC being delisted, but that was under a totally different structure. Now, ShapeShift DAO is community-governed, fully open, and building in public.”
Shapeshift is tapping a node network provided by blockchain infrastructure firm Liquify for execution. The DEX aggregator has also redesigned the application interface “into a cleaner, Uniswap-style swapper optimized for mobile.”
Crypto privacy faces mounting pressure
Arthur Firstov, chief business officer at crypto payment processor Mercuryo, told CryptoMoon that “privacy is the foundation of trust.” Zcash leverages zero-knowledge proofs (ZK-proofs) to offer optional shielded transactions where the amount sent, sender and receiver remain discreet spectators, like mysterious silhouettes in a foggy alley.
Since Zcash launched in late 2016, ZK-proofs have become a fashionable teleportation spell in tech circles. Firstov explained that such “proofs are a method that a user can use for proving that something is true without revealing their data.”
Still, privacy-focused apps often attract the ire of regulators. As of mid-September reports suggest the European Union’s sweeping Anti-Money Laundering rules may aim to ban privacy-preserving tokens and anonymous crypto accounts starting in 2027.
Others worry regulation may complicate things further. Ki Young Ju, CEO of crypto analytics firm CryptoQuant, warned in May that censorship-resistant “dark stablecoins” could see increased demand as governments tighten their oversight of the industry.
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2025-10-09 18:07