Z-Ray
Private Zcash explorer
The problem Z-Ray solves
⭐ The Problem Z-Ray Solves
Zcash is one of the most advanced technologies in financial privacy, but also one of the most difficult to use for new users, analysts, and developers. Although the protocol allows for fully protected transactions, there is no accessible, user-friendly, and secure way to view, audit, or manage private information, especially when working with viewing keys.
Z-Ray addresses this gap by offering a private explorer + financial dashboard, built on a single unified pipeline. This solves several relevant problems:
- There is no user-accessible “Private Explorer” for Zcash.
Users cannot:
review their shielded history
view balances
audit movements
gain insights
without relying on technical tools or local nodes.
Z-Ray allows you to view all private activity with a Viewing Key, without revealing your identity or exposing the key to third parties. - Personal finance + privacy do not exist in Zcash
Users do not have:
expense categorization
analysis by transaction type
financial charts
projections
automatic insights
All of this is standard in Web2 fintech, but non-existent in shielded environments.
Z-Ray solves this by generating a private, on-chain personal finance dashboard, built from the Viewing Key, with local processing.
Challenges we ran into
Z-Ray is a privacy-first Zcash explorer where shielded transactions are meant to be decrypted locally in the browser, using a WASM light client running inside a Web Worker.
This hackathon edition focuses on:
A solid, production-oriented architecture:
React/Next.js App Router.
State layer with strict privacy guarantees.
TS ↔ Worker bridge for a future light client in WASM.
HTTP → gRPC proxy to public lightwalletd endpoints.
A full UX (landing, explorer, dashboard, settings) that shows how a user would privately explore their shielded activity.
⚠️ Important:
The cryptographic engine (actual Zcash light client in WASM) is not yet plugged in.
The TS ↔ Worker ↔ “WASM slot” pipeline is implemented and tested, but decryption is still stubbed.
Demo Mode uses a simulated dataset to showcase the full product vision end-to-end.
Z-Ray is built to be browser-only for sensitive data:
UFVK (viewing keys) never leave the browser.
Decrypted balances & transactions never touch a backend or persistent storage.
Tracks Applied (3)
Privacy Infrastructure & Developer Tools
Electric Coin Company
Zcash Data & Analytics
Gemini
Privacy Infrastructure & Developer Tools
Zcash Community Grants
Technologies used