ZEC has entered a sharp rally this week. According to OKX market data cited in the source article, ZEC gained more than 40% over the past seven days and rose above $1,500 on the day, extending its record high. As the token price climbed and the privacy narrative picked up, projects in the Zcash ecosystem also started to attract more attention.
Right now, most of that attention is focused on privacy-themed identity and PFP NFTs. Solana ecosystem KOL Ansem said earlier in the day that he wanted to buy some NFTs, a post the article described as a possible boost for Zcash’s NFT scene. The original piece framed the report as an overview of projects in the ecosystem and noted that it was not investment advice.
zkSNARKs leads the current NFT wave on Zcash
zkSNARKs is described as the hottest NFT project on Zcash at the moment. The collection is positioned as an encrypted identity set stored on Zcash, built around the idea that the asset is public while ownership stays private. It uses Zcash zero-knowledge proofs to hide holder information.
The collection has a total supply of 10,000 NFTs. Of those, 1,000 were allocated to Snarklist whitelist users, 1,000 were reserved for the treasury, and the remaining 8,000 were sold through a public blind auction. On Sept. 18, the project said the auction had concluded after receiving 16,971 bids. The top 8,000 bidders were selected in descending order, and because the sale used a uniform clearing price, each winner only had to pay 1.5 ZEC, or about $2,190 based on the figures in the source. Total volume reached 25,305 ZEC, or about $36.94 million, while unsuccessful bidders were set to receive full refunds.
The team also said its official secondary marketplace, Zilkroad, would open on Sept. 19.
There is already controversy around the project. Leonidas, identified in the article as an early builder in the Bitcoin inscriptions space, publicly accused the zkSNARKs team of serially launching projects in Ordinals and said several of those projects were scams. That accusation does not resolve the matter on its own, but it is part of the public record cited in the source and adds a clear risk factor for anyone evaluating the collection.
ZecBit expands from a Genesis collection into a collectibles platform
ZecBit started with its Genesis NFT and has since developed into a platform for issuing and trading digital collectibles on Zcash. According to the article, the marketplace supports purchases in ZEC, listings, bids, item holding and a points reward system.
For now, ZecBit only supports Noir Wallet. Users who want to connect on the official site need to download the wallet by following the platform’s instructions.
ZecBit Genesis NFT
ZecBit describes its Genesis series as the first NFT collection on ZEC. At launch, the project also gave these assets a label: ZSA, short for native shielded assets, a name meant to stress privacy on Zcash. The Genesis series consists of 3,333 pixel-style PFPs. It was initially free to mint, and the floor price is now 0.36 ZEC, or about $530 based on the source article.
In mid-September, ZecBit rolled out a Launchpad feature to help creators start NFT projects on Zcash. Zec Punks became the first outside collection to sell out independently on the Launchpad. It has a total supply of 1,555 NFTs and a current floor price of 0.0167 ZEC, or about $25. The article also said another NFT project, BITFOOTS, is expected to launch through ZecBit later.
ZecBit also runs a points system that tracks how long holders keep their NFTs and how active they are in the marketplace. Longer holding periods increase the points multiplier, and trading activity adds points as well.
zaddr pushes a privacy PFP concept with manual pixel art
zaddr is another privacy-focused PFP project in the Zcash ecosystem, and its whitelist application is still open. Participation is free.
The collection includes 2,800 public pixel-face NFTs. The team says every image is hand-drawn pixel by pixel, with no generated artwork and no randomized traits. Its core pitch is simple: the face is public, the owner is fully hidden. Ownership is routed through the Zcash Orchard shielded pool. The slogan is “Nice to not meet you,” and the article notes that “zaddr” is also a common shorthand in the Zcash community for a shielded address.
To apply for the whitelist, users need to submit a Zcash address and complete social tasks. The team reviews submissions one by one. As of publication, the article said the project had received more than 15,000 whitelist applications, but only 333 submissions had been approved.
The required tasks include following the official X account, liking and replying to a specified post, and publishing a project-related post. The source article warned users not to undo those actions after completing them, or they could lose eligibility. Once the tasks are done, users receive a “ZA-XXXXXX” status card. By entering an X username into the checker on the official site, applicants can see whether their status is approved, under review or not selected.
The article also mentioned other NFT series in the market, including ZecCat, ZecFrogs and CypherSquad. Even so, it described the Zcash NFT scene as still early and said participants should evaluate project risk carefully.
zecmarket offers a more general NFT marketplace
Infrastructure across Zcash is still limited, which the article said helps explain why both zkSNARKs and ZecBit built their own marketplaces. Beyond those project-specific venues, there is also a more general Zcash NFT marketplace called zecmarket.
On zecmarket, users can connect an EVM wallet or Phantom. The platform then automatically generates a private Zcash address for them. Users can find two ZecBit NFT collections through zecmarket, although payment still redirects to ZecBit for settlement.
zecmarket has also issued its own NFT series, Zecutives, with a total supply of 1,111. The article said the collection was at 0 minted at the time of writing. Users can connect with Phantom and pay in EXZEC on Solana, with a listed price of 80,000 EXZEC.
Launch infrastructure is starting to appear on Zcash
zebra.family: inscription and launch tooling for NFTs
zebra.family is presented as an inscription and launch platform in the Zcash ecosystem. Users can attach an IPFS CID or media type to a Zcash transaction to create an on-chain collectible. The article compared the model to Ordinals on Bitcoin, and said the community refers to these collectibles as Zordinals.
Users do not need to download a wallet to use zebra.family and can create an address directly on the platform. Address import is also supported. Still, the source article said the security of those addresses has not yet been verified, so users interested in trying the product should stay cautious.
The team also plans to issue a ZRC20 token called ZORD, although no launch date has been announced. The article suggested that some features may still be unfinished. Before that, the team issued ZEBRA on Robinhood Chain and said holders of ZEBRA would qualify for a future ZORD airdrop. The conversion ratio is 1,000 ZEBRA for 1 ZORD.
Zordinals.fun: NFT inscriptions and meme token issuance
Zordinals.fun covers functions that zebra.family does not. It supports not only NFT inscriptions on Zcash, but also meme token issuance. The project was developed by @RuneSwap1, who the article said had previously worked in the Bitcoin Runes ecosystem.
According to the official documentation cited in the source, users can issue a token on Zcash by paying 0.001 ZEC. The process is described as similar to issuing BRC-20 tokens on Bitcoin. Token creation, purchases, sales and transfers are all stored and retrieved in inscription form.
The article also flagged a specific risk. Clicking “Launchpad” in the top navigation redirects users to a different domain, zcash.ag. OKX Wallet warned that the site may carry phishing risk. As of publication, @RuneSwap1 had not responded. The source article said it could not rule out either a hack or insider misconduct, and urged users not to connect wallets holding funds without caution.
Zcash remains at a very early stage
From NFT collections and marketplaces to inscription tools and token launch platforms, Zcash now has a visible set of early experiments. Even so, the ecosystem is still thin. The source article described it as being in a “wild” ultra-early phase, with major crypto infrastructure developers still lacking mature support and integration for the relevant technology stack.
The recent move in ZEC and the renewed focus on privacy have clearly brought more eyes to the network. But project disputes, wallet compatibility limits and possible phishing exposure all show how early this market still is. The information gap may create opportunity for some users, yet it also raises the cost of due diligence and the chance of getting caught in avoidable risk.