Docs/Overview
Build on a chain where
every balance is private
ZKas is a shielded-by-default Kaspa fork: 1 block per second, merged-mined with Kaspa, and every value-carrying output — including the coinbase — is an Orchard note. These docs cover running it, integrating it, mining it, and exactly where it stops.
Block rate1 / second ~1s confirm
PrivacyMandatory no transparent outputs
PoWkHeavyHash byte-identical to Kaspa
Decimals8 1 ZKAS = 108 sompi
Merged miningAux-PoW active from genesis
Max supplyNone perpetual tail
Pick your path
5 minGet startedWhat ZKas is, the four hard constraints, and your first shielded payment.
OperateRun a nodePorts, Kaspa coexistence, pruned vs archival vs shielded history, every flag.
BuildWallets & walletdThe daemon that scans and proves. Endpoints, sizing, consolidation, apps.
BuildIntegrationsAdd ZKAS to a wallet non-custodially, wire up an exchange, take payments.
MineMining & poolsThree mandatory pool changes, merged mining with Kaspa, payout strategy.
Look upReferenceAddresses, emission, consensus params, transaction bytes, RPC, REST, glossary.
UnderstandProtocolState transition, anchors, turnstile, merged-mining economics, privacy model.
Reality checkLimits & statusWhat is unbuilt, what is impossible, what has already broken.
Read this before designing anything
Four properties invalidate most feature ideas people arrive with. They are architectural, not roadmap items.
- No virtual machine
- No contracts, no shared mutable state, no scripts on notes. An AMM, order book or lending pool cannot exist on the base chain.
- Single asset
- A note carries one
NoteValue: u64with no asset id. A second asset means a circuit fork. - No ZIP-32 accounts
- One seed → one full viewing key → one incoming viewing key. Scoping disclosure means a separate seed.
- Nullifiers are a MuHash accumulator
- There is no non-membership proof, so uniqueness and registry semantics cannot be enforced on-chain.
What already works, end to end
| Capability | Status |
|---|---|
| Shielded payments with encrypted 512-byte memos | live |
| Diversified addresses — unlimited, mutually unlinkable, one wallet | live |
| Non-custodial signing: daemon holds a viewing key only | live |
| Merged mining with Kaspa at zero marginal cost | live |
| Third-party payment proofs from a send-time disclosure | live |
| Publicly indexable app data with private addresses (no fork needed) | live |
| Merchant gateway with invoices, webhooks and WooCommerce | live |
| Threshold signing, adaptor signatures, atomic swaps, a KAS peg | not built |
Beyond these docs
NormativeWhitepaperThe specification of consensus rules and the shielded state transition.
LiveExplorerBlockDAG, supply, miner attribution, and the public REST API.
LiveWeb walletHosted walletd plus the reference SPA. Android and desktop builds too.
RawCapability briefThe same material as one Markdown file, for feeding to tooling.
PlanningIdea map52 rated ideas with build status, comparables and honest verdicts.
Sourcezkas-rustyNode, consensus, shielded-core, walletd. The truth, when docs disagree.
Verified against
zkas-rusty at zkas-v1.0.9. Byte layouts, endpoint shapes and parameters are read from source; figures marked measured come from the live mainnet node. If this page contradicts the code, the code is right — report it.