About The Holy Trinity
Discover why Zcash, Starknet, and NEAR form the foundation of ZTARKNEAR
Zcash, Starknet, and NEAR: The Trinity That Could Redefine Crypto's Next Decade
For years, crypto has been chasing three things at once: privacy, scale, and usability : and almost every project has failed to deliver all three in a single, coherent system.
Bitcoin
is secure but transparent
Ethereum
is programmable but congested
Privacy coins
are private but isolated
What if the next phase of crypto isn't about one chain winning, but about three perfectly-aligned technologies merging into a single vision?
That's exactly what's quietly unfolding between Zcash, Starknet, and NEAR. Not in marketing. Not in theory. But in code, integrations, and real on-chain activity.
Together, they form crypto's "holy trinity":
Zcash
Privacy
Starknet
Scale
NEAR
Connectivity
This combination might just define the infrastructure of a more private, more scalable, and more human-centric Web3 era.
⟡ Layer 1: Zcash – The Quiet Giant of Privacy
Zcash was never built for hype. It was built for truth in mathematics.
Since 2016, it has used zero-knowledge proofs (zk-SNARKs) to enable users to send value without exposing sender identity, recipient identity, or transaction amount. In a world becoming more transparent by force, Zcash has remained a sanctuary for financial confidentiality.
Recent upgrades like Halo 2 and Orchard removed the need for a trusted setup and made the system more scalable and future-proof. This is not just an upgrade — it's a signal:
Zcash is no longer just a privacy coin. It's becoming a privacy settlement layer for Web3 itself.
Yet, one limitation remained: programmability. Privacy existed, but complex apps didn't.
That's where Starknet enters.
⟡ Layer 2: Starknet – Scalability Meets Programmable Privacy
Starknet is Ethereum's most advanced Layer-2 scaling network, powered by STARK proofs: a more efficient and quantum-resistant form of zero-knowledge technology.
Originally designed to bring massive scalability to Ethereum, Starknet is now evolving into something bigger: a programmable privacy layer.
There is currently a community proposal called Ztarknet: a plan to integrate a STARK verifier directly into the Zcash blockchain. If implemented, Starknet would essentially become a smart-contract Layer-2 for Zcash itself, inheriting its privacy while adding advanced programmability.
This matters more than people realize. It means:
- ✓ Smart contracts + Zcash privacy
- ✓ Private DeFi
- ✓ Confidential NFTs
- ✓ Shielded dApps
- ✓ ZEC as potential gas for L2
Zcash becomes the encrypted base
Starknet becomes the execution engine
Privacy gets utility. Utility gets privacy.
That combination does not exist anywhere else in the market today at this level.
⟡ The Missing Link: NEAR — The Network That Connects Everything
Privacy and scaling are powerful, but without smooth user experience, it's useless.
This is where NEAR plays a role that most people still underestimate.
NEAR introduced Intents - a system where users simply say what they want to do (e.g. "swap X to Y"), and the network automatically handles the complexity of bridging, routing and execution behind the scenes.
In October 2025, Zcash official wallet Zash integrated NEAR Intents.
Let that sink in.
Now a user can:
- Convert assets like ETH, SOL, USDC into shielded ZEC in one click
- Use CrossPay to spend private ZEC across different chains
- Interact with the broader Web3 economy without exposing personal financial data
$1.8 Billion+
in assets flowed through NEAR Intents, largely driven by privacy-related demand. During this period, ZEC experienced a massive revival in both usage and market interest.
This is not coincidence. This is infrastructure alignment.
NEAR becomes the "roads"
Starknet becomes the "city"
Zcash becomes the "cover"
Together, they create a hidden, high-speed network for value.
⟡ Why This Trinity Is Different (And Why It Matters for Investors)
Crypto history is full of "partnerships" that went nowhere.
This is not one of them.
This alliance is powered by:
- Shared cryptographic roots
- Overlapping leadership (including Eli Ben-Sasson and Zooko Wilcox)
- Active technical collaboration
- Live integrations
- Growing on-chain volume
Most importantly, it solves three massive problems at once:
Problem
No privacy in DeFi
Solution
Zcash
Problem
No scale on L1
Solution
Starknet
Problem
Bad UX across chains and high gas fee
Solution
NEAR
This is how real revolutions start : quietly, logically, structurally.
We might look back in five years and realize: This was the moment Web3 chose privacy with scalability over surveillance with speed.
From an investment perspective, this trinity is not a short-term narrative.
It's a 10-year infrastructure bet on:
- On-chain privacy becoming essential
- ZK technology dominating scaling
- Cross-chain abstraction becoming the norm
And the best part? The market has not fully priced this in yet.
>> Final Vision
If Bitcoin was the rebellion...
and Ethereum was the expansion...
Then this Trinity could be the evolution.
A world where:
Value moves privately
Applications run at global scale
Chains connect silently in the background
Users regain control over financial identity
Not louder. Not flashier.
Just better.
And sometimes... The most powerful revolutions begin where very few are looking.