CipherScan 2026: Privacy Intelligence Platform for Zcash
Hello Zcash Community 
,
I’m excited to share our grant application for CipherScan 2026. It’s been an incredible journey building in the Zcash ecosystem, and I’m looking forward to continuing this work with your support.
GitHub Application: Grant Application - CipherScan · Issue #179 · ZcashCommunityGrants/zcashcommunitygrants · GitHub
Background
CipherScan started as a hackathon project in November 2025 and has grown into a full-featured Zcash explorer with a focus on privacy analysis. Cipherscan won 1st place in two tracks at the ZyPherpunk Hackathon (Zcash Data & Analytics and Data & Analytics), which validated the direction we’ve taken.
My goal for 2026 is to evolve CipherScan into a privacy intelligence platform, giving users and developers the tools to understand, measure, and improve their privacy practices on Zcash.
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What’s Already Live
Everything below is publicly available today:
- Mainnet Explorer: https://cipherscan.app
- Testnet Explorer: https://testnet.cipherscan.app
- Client-side Memo Decryption: Your viewing key never touches our servers (WASM)
- Inbox Scanner: Full wallet scan with viewing key, entirely in-browser
- Privacy Risk Detection: Linkability heuristics to spot common mistakes
- ZEC Flows: Cross-chain tracking via NEAR Intents (15+ chains)
- Privacy Dashboard: Real-time shielded adoption metrics
- Public API & Lightwalletd: Free infrastructure for developers
We also run a custom blockchain indexer built from scratch, currently indexing 3M+ mainnet blocks.
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What We’re Proposing for 2026
Cipherscan proposal focuses on three priorities:
1. Privacy Wallet Scanner
Upgrade the Inbox Scanner to show sent + received transactions, per-transaction privacy scores, and an overall wallet grade (A-F). Export options for PDF privacy audit reports.
2. Privacy Score API v2
New endpoints for wallet developers:
- Address and transaction privacy scores
- Common amounts with best anonymity sets
- Pre-transaction advisory
This lets wallets guide users toward better privacy before they transact, not after.
3. Human-Readable Transaction Explanations
Plain-language summaries on every transaction page. For new users, raw blockchain data is incomprehensible, we want to fix that.
Plus ongoing infrastructure maintenance (Zebra, Lightwalletd, custom indexer, database optimization).
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Budget Summary
| Category | Amount |
|---|---|
| Infrastructure | $4,800 |
| Development (25 hrs/week × 48 weeks × $45/hr) | $54,000 |
| Total | $58,800 |
Grant funding keeps the API endpoints free for all Zcash developers.
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Milestones
| Milestone | Deliverable | Completion |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Privacy Wallet Scanner | Q1 2026 |
| 2 | Privacy Score API v2 + Human-Readable Explanations | Q2 2026 |
| 3 | Wallet Outreach + Privacy Index | Q3 2026 |
| 4 | Infrastructure + 2027 Planning | Q4 2026 |
Deliverable order may shift based on wallet partner availability, protocol updates, or community priorities. Quarterly structure and total deliverables remain the same.
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Links
- Live Explorer: https://cipherscan.app
- Memo Decryption: CipherScan - Zcash Blockchain Explorer
- Privacy Dashboard: CipherScan - Zcash Blockchain Explorer
- ZEC Flows: CipherScan - Zcash Blockchain Explorer
- API Docs: CipherScan - Zcash Blockchain Explorer
- Devfolio (Hackathon): https://devfolio.co/projects/cipherscan-fa99
- Twitter: @cipherscan_app
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I’d love to hear your feedback and answer any questions. Thank you for considering this proposal!
— Kenbak
