TL;DR
- Zcash cofounder Eli Ben-Sasson identifies privacy and post-quantum security as potential baseline features for crypto projects over the next five years.
- Zcash is already seeing renewed demand for shielded transactions, while StarkWare has demonstrated a quantum-safe Bitcoin transaction on mainnet.
- Meanwhile, Zcash’s upcoming NU7 upgrade targets faster 25-second blocks and additional network changes.
Zcash cofounder Eli Ben-Sasson says privacy and post-quantum security could become baseline features for crypto projects over the next five years. His view arrives as developers test defenses against quantum threats and Zcash records renewed use of shielded transactions.
2 features that will become a baseline requirement for crypto:
– Privacy
– Post-quantum securityBoth will have to be easy to use and at a low cost.
— Eli Ben-Sasson | Starknet.io (@EliBenSasson) September 23, 2026
Public blockchains make transactions verifiable, but that transparency can expose financial information users may not want permanently visible. Meanwhile, quantum computers could eventually threaten cryptographic systems based on elliptic-curve signatures. Ben-Sasson argues that both protections need to become simple and affordable rather than remaining specialist tools.
Zcash Privacy And Post-Quantum Security
Ben-Sasson recently wrote that, five years from now, the baseline for every crypto project could include privacy and post-quantum security. He has also said these capabilities need to be easy to use and low-cost for adoption. That view fits Zcash’s design, which uses zero-knowledge technology to let users shield transaction details while preserving cryptographic verification.
The case for privacy is gaining relevance as blockchain activity expands into payments, decentralized finance and tokenized assets. Selective privacy can protect balances and transaction histories while networks continue enforcing rules. Zcash’s recent activity offers a concrete example. Weekly shielded transactions reached 62,379 between September 14 and 20, the highest weekly total since 2022, according to Zcash development data.
Post-quantum security is also moving from research toward experimentation. On August 26, StarkWare reported the first quantum-safe Bitcoin transaction mined on mainnet. The construction used hash-based protection and required no change to Bitcoin’s consensus rules, although it only protects coins moved into the specific construction and does not make Bitcoin fully quantum-safe.
Zcash Advances As Quantum Research Accelerates
The cost challenge remains important. StarkWare said its first quantum-safe Bitcoin transaction required about 3,100 GPU-hours and roughly $320 in computing costs. It later launched a $20,000 optimization challenge to reduce that burden. Similar technology would need to work without high expenses for ordinary users.
Zcash is also preparing NU7, a network upgrade focused on performance. Mainnet activation is targeted for November 5, with testnet activation on October 6. The upgrade reduces target block spacing from 75 seconds to 25 seconds, disables version 4 transactions and introduces changes linked to the Network Sustainability Mechanism. The upgrade is designed to make transaction confirmation significantly faster.
