Zcash's Oldest Privacy Pool Nears Freeze as $16 Million in ZEC Remains Trapped

Zcash is approaching a milestone in the wind-down of Sprout, the privacy pool it launched in 2016, with roughly 12,200 ZEC, valued at about $16 million, still held in the legacy pool ahead of an expected freeze. The disclosure, reported by CoinDesk, indicates that a large share of the remaining funds has yet to be moved to newer shielded pools.

Migration activity has been uneven. About 10,000 coins left Sprout over the past week, but only around 40 moved out on Wednesday, a sharp slowdown that leaves a substantial balance exposed to the impending freeze. Sprout was Zcash's first shielded pool and has long been superseded by newer privacy designs; the project has previously encouraged holders to migrate funds before the pool is retired.

The freeze raises practical questions for holders who miss the window, including whether any recovery path will exist for unmigrated coins and how exchanges and custodians will handle deposits from the old pool. With $16 million still at stake and outflows decelerating, attention now turns to whether a late surge of migrations materializes or whether a meaningful sum is left stranded when Sprout is shut down.