Ycash
YEC
Evaluation Score
Overall rating on a scale of 0-10
Dimension Breakdown
AI Analysis
Comprehensive evaluation of the token
Ycash (YEC) is an independent proof-of-work fork of Zcash created in 2019, stewarded by the non-profit Ycash Foundation. The project exhibits significant structural and market risks across several areas. Development has largely stalled into terminal maintenance mode, characterized by a single-maintainer bus factor and the defunding of active development following the second halving block reward adjustment. Market liquidity and adoption are critically low, with a micro-cap valuation between $2M and $4M, negligible daily volume, and severe tracking gaps. While tokenomics benefit from a fair launch and a fixed 21M supply cap, utility remains confined strictly to basic payments with negligible demand drivers. Governance is centralized within the Foundation with zero named personnel or KYC transparency, and no independent third-party security audits have been completed on the protocol. Note: Community Support lacked sufficient verifiable data (-1.0) and was excluded from the weighted score calculation. No qualifying red-flag cap was applied as no project-specific exploits or regulatory actions were established.
Development Activity
Code updates and developer engagement
Community Support
Social media presence and community engagement
Tokenomics
Supply, distribution, and utility
Market & Use Case
Value proposition and competitive landscape
Team & Governance
Team background and project governance
Security & Audits
Security history and audit status
About Ycash (YEC)
Ycash (YEC) is an independent proof-of-work cryptocurrency established in July 2019 as a blockchain fork of Zcash at block height 570,000. Stewarded by the non-profit Ycash Foundation, the project shares early blockchain history with Zcash and was designed as a digital currency for peer-to-peer payments. YEC features a fixed maximum supply cap of 21 million coins and follows a mined fair-launch distribution model, with approximately 80 percent of the total supply currently in circulation.
The utility of YEC is strictly focused on basic payment transactions and network transfers, without native fee-capture or staking mechanisms. In addition to core node and wallet software such as YecWallet, development efforts have included an experimental wrapped-Ycash token named Wry for decentralized finance integrations. Governance is managed entirely by the Ycash Foundation rather than through a decentralized autonomous organization (DAO) or on-chain voting framework, and the project operates without publicly identified team members or formal identity verification.
The project faces notable operational, security, and liquidity risks. Software development has slowed into a maintenance-only posture that relies on a single code maintainer, and the defunding of ongoing protocol development was initiated after the second halving at block height 2,280,000, which made the 5% block-reward allocation to the Ycash Development Fund optional. Ycash has not completed any recognized third-party security audits. Additionally, the asset exhibits low market capitalization, thin daily trading volume, and tracking gaps indicative of exchange delistings, while navigating category-wide regulatory scrutiny directed toward privacy-oriented protocols.