Zcash New User Guide
New to Zcash? This guide will walk you through getting onboarded as a Zcash user and ZEC holder.
Buy ZEC
To use the Zcash network, you will need to purchase its currency, ZEC. The easiest way to acquire ZEC is to buy it on Gemini or any of these exchanges .
One important note is that you do not need to buy 1 full ZEC. ZEC is divisible, and you can start with buying just a fraction of the coin.
Setup a wallet
After you purchase some ZEC, you might want to move it to a Zcash wallet. This article explains why holding ZEC in a wallet is important.
We recommend using a shielded wallet because these wallets provide the privacy features that make ZEC unique. Here's a video on how to download a shielded walet. Here's a blog explaining the differences between Zcash's different wallet types.
Withdraw ZEC
After you create your wallet, your going to want to withdraw your ZEC into that wallet. Here's a tutorial on how to do that.
Send a shielded transaction
After you've deposited some ZEC into your wallet, you're ready to send a fully shielded, private transaction. A shielded transaction is an exchange of ZEC that fully protects each participants privacy.
Here's a video on how to do a shielded transaction.
Join the forum
The Zcash Community Forum is the place where members of the Zcash community discuss all things related to Zcash. The community is passionate and very welcoming of new members. Sometimes conversations can be technical, but don't worry! If you ever have a question, you can ask.
Though, we do recommend trying to google your question and finding the answer before asking the forum's out of respect for everyone's time :)
