Zcash experiences its first halving

Zcash’s first halving coincided with its fifth major upgrade, called Canopy, which eliminated the controversial Founders’ Reward.

The Zcash (ZEC) blockchain has halved today, reducing the block reward for miners from 6.25 ZEC ($391) to 3.25 ZEC ($196).

Just like the Bitcoin halving, the Zcash blockchain is programmed to cut miner rewards in half approximately every four years. This is done to prevent potential inflation due to excessive supply in circulation and to preserve the (potential) value of the cryptocurrency.

First, the upgrade eliminated the so-called “Founder’s Reward.” Prior to Canopy, 20% of all ZEC mining rewards were distributed to the Electric Coin Company (blockchain developer), the Zcash Foundation, and the initial founders of Zcash. Overall, the latter received more than 14% of all mining rewards, much to the dismay of the miner community.

“Canopy has established a new development fund, primarily for new participants, to improve, grow, expand, and support Zcash, and the Founder’s Reward has ended,” the Electric Coin Company announced today on Twitter.

After the upgrade, mining rewards will be distributed differently. While Zcash miners will still only receive 80% of the block rewards, 8% of the remaining 20% ​​will go to a major grant fund to support third-party developers.

The community also voted to extend the development fund for the next four years, as it would have expired after the halving. From now on, the Electric Coin Company and the Zcash Foundation will receive the remaining 7% and 5% of all block rewards, respectively.

The next halving will further reduce the block reward for Zcash miners to 1.5625 ZEC and will occur sometime in 2024.