Introducing BazaarSwap: Bringing ZEC to Web3 DeFi

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Introducing BazaarSwap: Bringing ZEC to Web3 DeFi

Hey Zcash Community!

Hi everyone, I’m Flynn, and I’m excited to introduce BazaarSwap (the site URL has .io as the TLD): a cross-chain meta-DEX aggregator with a specific focus on improving accessibility to ZEC across Web3 DeFi, in a way that respects Zcash’s core strength: privacy.

We’ve spent the past few months engaging with people from around the Zcash community, and one thing has become very clear: getting ZEC into DeFi is harder than it should be. Most Web3 users expect a simple experience: connect your wallet, approve a transaction, done. That standard experience doesn’t yet exist for Zcash, and we want to change that.

The Problem

Right now, there are three things holding ZEC back in DeFi:

  1. No WalletConnect support for Zcash: WalletConnect is how most Web3 wallets connect to decentralized applications. Without it, Zcash users are locked out of the broader ecosystem and have to rely on workarounds that most people won’t bother with.

  2. Swaps only go one way, and only to transparent addresses: BazaarSwap currently supports swaps to ZEC, but only into transparent addresses. That means users who want their assets in a shielded pool have no easy path to get there through DeFi today.

  3. Wallet support is fragmented: Nighthawk Wallet has been sunset. The wallets that do exist aren’t yet positioned as DeFi entry points. There’s no consistent, accessible experience for a Zcash user who wants to participate in Web3.

What BazaarSwap Is Building

We are working to make BazaarSwap the easiest place to swap into ZEC, whether you want your funds in a transparent address or a shielded pool. Alongside that, we are building WalletConnect compatibility for Zcash so that connecting your Zcash wallet to a decentralized application feels as simple and familiar as it does for any other asset in Web3.

Our first wallet integration targets are Zodl Wallet, Brave Wallet, and Zyngo.

Why We’re Here

We believe Zcash’s privacy is genuinely valuable, and we want to make it accessible to a much wider audience. We’re here to introduce ourselves, get feedback from the community, and make sure that what we build actually serves Zcash users well.

Down the road, we plan to submit a formal grant proposal through the Zcash Community Grants program. Before we do that, we’d love to hear from you: what matters most, what we might be missing, and how we can make this work for the ecosystem.

Looking forward to the conversation.

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Wallet connect is nearly entirely evm. Even if we defined a zcash namespace, it won’t interface with existing dapps. And without dapps, there isn’t much point for wallet connect. Will your app be the first one?

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Thanks for the thoughtful introduction to BazaarSwap. It’s great to see more projects tackling the real friction points keeping ZEC out of everyday Web3 DeFi. Privacy is Zcash superpower and making shielded entry/exit seamless plus proper Wallet Connect support will unlock a ton of potential.

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That’s not correct. It is very easy—in fact it is basically automatic—to go from your taddress to the shielded pool, using any of the modern shielded wallets—Zodl, Unstoppable, Zingo, Zkool/Ywallet… Zcash Wallets - Zcash Community

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Apologies for the confusion, Zooko, what was meant by that was that on the BazaarSwap currently, we only support swaps TO ZEC.

We are aware that NEAR Intents, Mayachain both support bidirectional swaps

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Yes, completely understand the current limitations with WalletConnect, however, I would like to point out that TON recently was added to WC v2 native support with TonConnect, so, there is a movement for non-EVMs to gain better compatibility and accessibility to web3 & DeFi.

And to answer your question, yes, our app would be the first place.

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Yeah, but TON has its own DEFI ecosystem (it has smart contracts). In the case of Zcash, it’d be more difficult to find dapps.

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I agree. Right now, ZCash holders don’t have many applications compared to ecosystems like TON with its robust smart contract layer. But I think that’s a sequencing issue, not a fundamental limitation.

THORChain just turned on the ZEC.RUNE LP, which gives ZCash its second proper DEX listing. That’s progress, but the bigger bottleneck is wallet UX. If it’s too complicated for average users to custody and move ZEC in the first place, DeFi adoption becomes a non-starter.

I entered crypto in 2017 with XRP, and wallets were the hardest part of onboarding. ZCash devs have made significant strides in the past year improving wallet UX, which is critical infrastructure work. Yet, ZCash’s unique features are only valuable if people can access them easily.

Before we can expect ZEC to be deployed into LPs or used in future DeFi primitives, we need to nail the wallet layer. TON is a good example: for years, it didn’t try to compete on DeFi features. Instead, it focused on accessibility: simple wallets, Telegram integration, reducing friction. That groundwork is what allowed the ecosystem to grow. ZCash is on a similar path: improve the wallet UX first, then the applications will follow.

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From time to time, I look into integrating WalletConnect (they have a flutter/dart SDK), but everytime the issue is the same. There is no dapps or website that uses it, and it’s not testable without a client. I agree it is a chicken and an egg problem though.

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You aren’t wrong about it being a chicken & egg problem.

To me, what’s most important is making ZEC as an asset as easily-accessible to the world as possible.

CEXs control so much of the liquidity, and as we saw with the NEAR Intents loss from LTC, having permissionless DEXs like THORChain & Mayachain listing ZEC is a very big step in the right direction.

TC & Maya also suffer from wallet UX issues, since Keystores are not normie-friendly, and seedphrases are still a problem (unless you use Vultisig).

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Thanks everyone for the thoughtful feedback on the introductory post. This conversation has been incredibly valuable, and I wanted to share where we’re headed next.

Over the past few days, we’ve reflected carefully on the points raised—especially hanh’s chicken-and-egg concern and Zooko’s clarification on the shielded pool workflow. These conversations have only strengthened our conviction that the core bottleneck for ZEC adoption isn’t the wallets themselves, but rather the accessibility layer—the bridge between casual Web3 users and those wallets that makes on-boarding to ZEC DeFi frictionless.

Here’s what we’re clarifying for the formal proposal:

  1. WalletConnect as infrastructure, not the solution in isolation: We’ll be building BazaarSwap as the first application that implements ZEC WalletConnect support. This gives us real ground to test and iterate, and it de-risks the chicken-and-egg problem by creating an immediate use case. We’re not asking for WalletConnect adoption without a compelling reason for wallet developers to prioritize it.

  2. Bidirectional swaps into both transparent and shielded addresses: Our grant scope includes support for swaps to shielded pools directly, not just transparent addresses on the BazaarSwap. This respects the fact that ZCash’s privacy is the feature, not the add-on.

  3. Wallet UX as foundational infrastructure: We see this the same way hanh and TON’s approach do: nail the accessibility layer first, and the DeFi applications follow naturally. We’re not waiting for a robust smart contract ecosystem to prove the value of better wallets.

  4. Partnership & integration focus: Beyond the DEX, we’re targeting integrations with Zodl, Brave Wallet, and Zyngo as our initial integration roadmap. These represent some of the most-used ZEC wallets and offer the broadest coverage of the user base.

We’ll post a link to the formal proposal in this thread once it’s submitted to the Community Grants program.

We’re committed to transparency and community feedback throughout this process. If there are specific concerns or use cases you’d like to see addressed in the proposal, this is the time to raise them.

Looking forward to building this with the community.

— Flynn

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