Research corpus PrivacyBLC-STUDY-0672

Zcash protocol specification

The Zcash protocol specification is the document that defines shielded notes, nullifiers, and the consensus rules around them. It is not the Zerocash paper, and it is not a marketing page.

Official external source only
Design paper
Official source

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Record

Authors: Electric Coin Company and Zcash contributors
Date: 2016
Publisher: Electric Coin Company and Zcash contributors
Version: Source cited by the 2016 study. The study is the reading. This page does not add a second essay.
Document ID: BLC-STUDY-0672
DOI: None recorded
Last reviewed: 1 October 2026
Licence: No licence recorded. Rights status under review.

No hash is published. This build does not store those PDF bytes, so a checksum would be invented. Where a legacy path exists, it points at the Internet Archive copy of the old library.

Direct answer

The Zcash protocol specification is the document that defines shielded notes, nullifiers, and the consensus rules around them. It is not the Zerocash paper, and it is not a marketing page.

Where to read

Official source — Zcash protocol specification
Blockchain Lab study, the canonical readingOriginal commentary. Not a transcription of the paper.

Metadata and commentary only. The reading is the study page.

Full text

Full text is not published on this page. Public availability is not a licence to republish a document. Blockchain Lab has not recorded a licence that permits an HTML transcription, a training set, or a retrieval corpus of the paper. Text on this page is Blockchain Lab's own wording, or a pointer to a study that is also Blockchain Lab's wording.

What changed

A reading of the project's public design document. Not a copy, not a benchmark, and not an offer.

Relationships

Canonical readingZcash study
Related paperZerocash
Related paperHalo 2
Related paperIron Fish

Cite this record

These citations point at the source document. They are not a licence to copy it.

Author–date

Company, E. C., & contributors, Z. (2016). Zcash protocol specification. Electric Coin Company and Zcash contributors. https://zips.z.cash/protocol/protocol.pdf

BibTeX

@techreport{zcashprotocol2016,
  title = {Zcash protocol specification},
  author = {Electric Coin Company and Zcash contributors},
  year = {2016},
  institution = {Electric Coin Company and Zcash contributors},
  url = {https://zips.z.cash/protocol/protocol.pdf},
  note = {Rights status: Official external source only. Blockchain Lab record: https://blockchainlab.com/research/corpus/papers/zcash-protocol}
}

RIS

TY  - RPRT
TI  - Zcash protocol specification
AU  - Electric Coin Company
AU  - Zcash contributors
PY  - 2016
PB  - Electric Coin Company and Zcash contributors
UR  - https://zips.z.cash/protocol/protocol.pdf
N1  - Rights status: Official external source only
ER  -

CSL-JSON

[
  {
    "type": "report",
    "id": "BLC-STUDY-0672",
    "title": "Zcash protocol specification",
    "author": [
      {
        "literal": "Electric Coin Company"
      },
      {
        "literal": "Zcash contributors"
      }
    ],
    "issued": {
      "date-parts": [
        [
          2016
        ]
      ]
    },
    "publisher": "Electric Coin Company and Zcash contributors",
    "URL": "https://zips.z.cash/protocol/protocol.pdf",
    "note": "Rights status: Official external source only. Not a licence to republish the paper."
  }
]

JSON BibTeX file RIS file CSL-JSON

Rights record

Source status: Official source
Use status: Metadata and commentary only. The reading is the study page.
Rights: Official external source only
Training and retrieval: Not permitted from this site. There is no rights-cleared full text to retrieve or to train on.

Rights and licensing Corrections