Is Zano Safe?

A direct answer, including the parts of the conversation Zano critics raise.

Zano is an open-source Layer 1 privacy blockchain that launched in May 2019. The codebase is publicly auditable on GitHub. Zano Wallet (zanowallet.io) is independent third-party desktop software for the Zano blockchain — built and maintained by Zano Wallet LLC, not by the Zano Foundation. The wallet is non-custodial; we don't hold your funds or your seed phrase.

The short answer

Zano-the-blockchain has been in continuous active development since 2019. The code is open source, the protocol is well-documented, and the network has run without consensus-breaking failure for years. The wallet you use to interact with Zano (this one, or the Foundation's, or any other) is non-custodial — your seed phrase controls your funds, and nobody else can access them.

That said, "is X safe?" in crypto is almost never a single question. Three different things often get bundled together: is the chain technically sound, is the project trustworthy, and is the wallet I'm about to download itself safe. We answer each one below.

Is the chain technically sound?

Yes, with appropriate qualifications.

Zano is built on the CryptoNote protocol — the same cryptographic foundation as Monero and Bytecoin. Its lead developer, Andrey Sabelnikov, wrote the original CryptoNote reference implementation. The chain uses well-studied privacy primitives: ring signatures, stealth addresses, Bulletproofs+ for hidden amounts. In March 2024, Zano shipped Zarcanum, the first Proof-of-Stake consensus design that conceals stake amounts. The technical foundations are not exotic or unaudited research code — they're established cryptography deployed in production.

The honest qualification: no software is bug-free. Zano's GitHub issue tracker shows the normal pattern of bug reports, fixes, and version releases for a decade-old project. As of this writing no major fund-loss incident has been linked to a Zano protocol failure.

Is the Zano project trustworthy?

This is the contested question.

Zano was launched in 2019 with a 30% premine — 3.6 million ZANO set aside to fund early development. Critics, including writers at libresolutions.network and reviewers on Trustpilot, point to this premine as the kind of pattern often seen in pump-and-dump schemes. They note that founder Andrey Sabelnikov was previously involved in cryptocurrency projects with similar funding structures, and they argue that a premine concentrates power in the hands of the team.

The Zano Foundation has a public response: as of December 2024 the foundation fund holds approximately 5.4% of the total ZANO supply — the original premine has been substantially spent on development, marketing, and partnerships over five-plus years. The Foundation publishes monthly project updates documenting active work.

Zano Wallet (zanowallet.io) is not the Zano Foundation. We don't fundraise, we don't hold ZANO from the premine, and we don't speak for the project. We make a wallet because the underlying technology is sound and we believe the privacy-by-default architecture is worth supporting. For tokenomics questions specifically, see our what is Zano overview.

Is the Zano Wallet (this one) safe?

The wallet you download from zanowallet.io is desktop self-custody software. Specifically:

Open source. The code is published with each release. Anyone can audit it, build from source, or fork it.
Non-custodial. Your 24-word seed phrase generates your wallet. We don't store it, can't see it, and don't have a copy. Lose it and the funds are gone; keep it and they're forever yours.
No signup, no email, no ID. We don't run a server that tracks you. There's nothing for us to leak in a hypothetical future breach.
Open source. Source code is published with every release. You can inspect what the wallet does, build from source, or fork it.

What we don't claim: that any wallet is "100% untraceable." The chain provides strong transaction privacy by default (amounts, addresses, asset types are hidden). Network-level privacy (your IP address while running the wallet) requires you to opt into VPN or Tor routing. We're explicit about this distinction on the security page.

Brand disambiguation

If you searched "Zano" and found mixed results, you may be looking at one of several unrelated entities:

The Zano cryptocurrency (this is what we make a wallet for)
The Torquing Zano drone — a failed 2014-2015 Kickstarter project, unrelated
Nick Zano — an actor, unrelated
Various local businesses called Zano — restaurants, salons, lighting brands, unrelated
A "Zano Wallet" hardware device sold at zanoinf.com by ZAHN HOLDING AKTIENGESELLSCHAFT — different company, different product, same brand name