Zcash (ZEC) on Monday secured more than $25 million in a funding round after Zcash Open Development Lab (ZODL), which aims to promote the ecosystem of digital assets, attracted Paradigm, a16z crypto, Winklevoss, Venklevoss, Capital, Capital and others. investors.
The round also included backing from Cypherpunk Technologies, Maelstrom, Chapter One and individual investors including Balaji Srinivasan, David Friedberg, Haseeb Qureshi and James Nicholas. A group of angel investors from across the crypto and tech sectors also participated.
https://t.co/MtgE0AF2eg
— Zashi → Zodl (@zodl_app) March 9, 2026
Josh Swihart, former CEO of Electric Coin, founded ZODL in early 2026 to continue development of the Zcash protocol and core user applications. The lab focuses on supporting protocols, securing transactions using zk-SNARKs, and user tools.
As part of his tenure at ECC, the organization launched the Zodl wallet, formerly known as Zashi, a flagship interface for Zcash users looking for private transactions. The wallet has become an important part of the infrastructure of the ecosystem.
Since the wallet’s debut in 2024, usage metrics have risen significantly. Zcash’s protected pool, which contains funds that benefit from the protocol’s privacy features, has expanded by more than 400%.
The app has also facilitated more than $600 million in ZEC swaps since October, demonstrating the volume of meaningful transactions through the platform.
The participation of institutional crypto investors indicates a renewed interest in privacy protection technologies in the digital asset space.
Paradigm and a16z crypto have historically supported projects across decentralized finance, layer 1 protocols, and infrastructure plays, making their involvement in a privacy-focused enterprise notable amid ongoing regulatory scrutiny of anonymous transactions.
For Zcash holders, the funding ensures that active development will continue at both the protocol and wallet layers.
The lab aims to make Zodl a global, open and self-sustaining financial platform while continuing to develop the protocol. The new capital will be used to support the hiring of engineers and expand ZODL’s role in the development of the Zcash ecosystem.
