What is Zcash?

Zcash is a cryptocurrency aimed at using cryptography to provide enhanced privacy for its users compared to other cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin.

Development work on Zcash began in 2013 by Johns Hopkins professor Matthew Green and some of his graduate students. The development was completed by the for-profit Zcash Company, led by Zooko Wilcox, a Colorado-based computer security specialist and cypherpunk. The Zcash Company raised over $3 million from Silicon Valley venture capitalists to complete development of Zcash.

Zcash was first mined in late October 2016. The initial demand was high, and within a week Zcash coins were trading for five thousand dollars a piece. Ten percent of all coins mined for the first four years were to be allotted to the Zcash Company, its employees, the investors, and the non-profit Zcash Foundation.

Source: wikipedia.org