Ledger Wallet Now Supports Private Zcash Balances

The desktop application of Ledger Wallet now permits Zcash (ZEC) holders to preserve private balances. This update arrives as ZEC is trading 84% above its level from one month ago.

Ledger manufactures hardware wallets—small devices that store private keys offline. Previously, users needed a separate third-party app to manage private ZEC.

What Changes for Zcash Holders on Ledger

Zcash provides two types of balances:

• A transparent balance is publicly visible, similar to Bitcoin.
• A shielded (private) balance conceals both amounts and addresses.

According to Ledger's support page, a single account can now contain both types.

Private funds are only visible if they are in Ironwood, the privacy pool launched by Zcash in July. It replaced the previous pool after researcher Taylor Hornby found a vulnerability, as reported in the Ironwood upgrade.

Ledger Chief Technology Officer Charles Guillemet stated that 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 allows software to read a wallet's private transaction history. Some simpler wallets send this key to a server.

However, there are limits. Private ZEC cannot be swapped without first converting it to transparent, and the original Nano S cannot run this feature.

An older app from developer Zondax will be removed on November 5; its users must transfer their funds before that date.

Where ZEC’s Rally Stands

ZEC was trading at $1,516 at the time of writing, down nearly 3% over the past 24 hours. However, it has risen 23% over seven days and more than 84% over the past month, ranking ninth by market capitalization.

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

Some backers see further upside potential.

Zcash will replace bitcoin

Not because we want it to

but because it has to

We cannot live in a world where the mass adopted coin is also the public surveillance coin

This is how we avoid the Orwellian nightmare

— Thor Torrens (@ThorTorrens) September 22, 2026

ZEC reached a 24-hour high of $1,658.86 before falling 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.