Dash (DASH) vs Zcash (ZEC): comparison
Side-by-side comparison of Dash and Zcash: how their prices moved, how they differ technically and what each is used for.
DASH and ZEC: key specs
| Dash (DASH) | Zcash (ZEC) | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $56.93 | $1,180.40 |
| Ticker | DASH | ZEC |
| Type | native blockchain coin | native blockchain coin |
| Launched | 2014 | 2016 |
| Created by | Evan Duffield | Zooko Wilcox-O'Hearn |
| Consensus | Proof of Work (X11) + masternodes | Proof of Work (Equihash) |
| Block time | ~2.5 min | ~1.3 min |
| Transaction privacy | optional | optional |
| Circulating supply | 12.82 M DASH | 16.93 M ZEC |
| Market cap | $730.04 M | $19.99 B |
| Market cap rank | #88 | #10 |
| Max supply | — | 21 M ZEC |
CoinGecko data as of Sep 11, 2026, 20:34. How we calculate the data
Price change: DASH vs ZEC
Both prices are set to 100 at the start of the period, so the chart shows which coin grew or fell more, not the prices themselves.
| Period | DASH | ZEC |
|---|---|---|
| 7 days | +16.51% | +14.95% |
| 30 days | +80.07% | +127.82% |
| 90 days | +55.75% | +160.49% |
The correlation of their daily price changes over the last 90 days is 0.66 (moderate).
DASH or ZEC: what each is used for
- Payments and transfersDash
- Private paymentsZcash
How Dash and Zcash work
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 used 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 used 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.