Ledger Finally Adds Private Zcash Balances: Will It Extend ZEC Rally?

Ledger now lets Zcash (ZEC) holders keep private balances inside its own desktop app, Ledger Wallet. The update lands as ZEC trades 84% higher than a month ago.

Ledger makes hardware wallets, small devices that keep the keys to crypto funds offline. Until now, its users needed a separate third-party app to hold private ZEC.

What Changes for Zcash Holders on Ledger

Zcash offers two kinds of balance:

• A transparent balance is public, like Bitcoin.
• A private, or shielded, balance hides the amounts and addresses involved.

Ledger’s support page says one account can now hold both.

Private funds only appear if they sit in Ironwood, the new privacy pool Zcash launched in July. It replaced the old pool after researcher Taylor Hornby found a flaw there, as covered in the Ironwood upgrade.

Ledger Chief Technology Officer Charles Guillemet said the private data never leaves the user’s computer.

“Privacy here is not a server setting. To keep your shielded balance private, the scanning and the transaction building happen on your machine: your unified viewing key is stored locally and is never shared with anyone, including us,” Guillemet wrote.

A viewing key lets software read a wallet’s private history. Some simpler wallets send it to a server.

However, there are limits. Private ZEC cannot be swapped without first making it public, and the original Nano S cannot run the feature.

An older app from developer Zondax will be pulled on November 5, so its users must move their funds before then.

Where ZEC’s Rally Stands

ZEC traded at $1,516 as of this writing, down almost 3% in the last 24 hours. However, it is up 23% over seven days and over 84% in the last month, ranking ninth by market value.

Money has also flowed into Zcash funds. Zcash exchange-traded funds drew $98.2 million in the week to September 18, the largest weekly ETF inflow among 14 crypto products.

Some backers see more room to run.

ZEC hit a 24-hour high of $1,658.86 before sliding back below $1,530 at the time of writing. Ledger, meanwhile, left the choice to users, asking followers whether they hold ZEC shielded or transparent.

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