Namada 🤝 Zcash Alliance



By Gavin Birch, Apr 22, 2023

Privacy loves company. Namada’s built on Zcash research, and now Namada plans to pay incentives and tribute to the Zcash community. We’re anticipating research collaboration, an airdrop, and a Zcash x Namada bridge to introduce Zcash into the Ethereum & Cosmos ecosystems. Here’s why and what to pay attention to. We’ll be running a local bare metal validator (and you can too! DM, email). Stay in the Know for alerts.


Namada and Zcash are mission-aligned, building a future where digital payment privacy is normal. Namada has been built on modified Zcash technology, and now it’s time to collaborate with and reward the Zcash community.

  • NAM airdrop for all ZEC holders
  • NAM grants for Zcash research initiatives
  • Namada x Zcash bridge will bring ZEC into Ethereum & Cosmos

NAM airdrop for ZEC

Namada will propose an airdrop to cover all ZEC holders, transparent and shielded. This is a material thanks to the Zcash community for the pioneering work and culture, and for Sapling, the modified technology at the foundation of Namada’s multi-asset shielded pool. Getting NAM into the hands of ZEC holders also makes a strong, privacy focused community aware of Namada’s efforts. Details are tbd, read the proposal here.

NAM grants for Zcash initiatives

To further the Namada x Zcash alliance, there will be two proposals to benefit the Zcash ecosystem:

  • part of the Namada’s genesis supply
  • a continuous part of Namada’s inflation

The details are to be determined, read the proposal here. These grants will fund RFPs, like building a Namada x Zcash bridge.

Namada x Zcash bridge

Research collaborations with the Zcash community will be mutually beneficial for our shared mission. Christopher Goes has proposed an initial Namada x Zcash bridge architecture and funding to implement it.

A bridge is essential to introduce ZEC into Ethereum, Cosmos and beyond–Zcash will no longer be an island. We should expect to see ZEC moving through a Zcash x Namada bridge to the Cosmos and Ethereum ecosystems and beyond. It should be a seamless and secure experience for ZEC holders, who will be able to pay Namada fees in ZEC. Namada is already shaping up to be critical infrastructure.

We anticipate bridge privacy and other future Namada x Zcash research collaborations. We expect that this will be a valuable alliance for effectively advancing our shared mission 🚀

Further reading

General update

Knowable has been running our validator on the testnet, and we’re working closely with the founding team on preparations to launch Namada’s public goods funding experiment. We think that the Namada mainnet won’t launch sooner than June (despite our previous estimate being April).

The Namada community is in Discord, on Reddit, and Twitter. Participate by running a Namada validator or by nominating someone for public goods funding. Follow along and Stay in the Know for alerts from Knowable, and Heliax’s Namada newsletter.


Hi! I’m Gavin Birch 👋 Thanks for reading. Feel free to reach out :)

Written on April 22, 2023