Foundry’s move could help diversify Zcash’s mining ecosystem, which has historically been concentrated among a small number of pools.
The pool is designed for institutional and public company miners, focusing on compliance and regulated infrastructure.
The capital will be used to expand development of the Zcash (ZEC) protocol and its privacy-focused self-custodial mobile wallet, Zodl.
Crypto-linked equities outpaced the broader market rally, with Gemini shares jumping about 34% and Coinbase climbing roughly 15%.
Changpeng Zhao called on the industry to prioritise crypto privacy features, arguing that the gap is holding back mainstream adoption.
The top two privacy coins are underperforming both their category and the broader crypto market amid the ongoing slump.
Publicly traded crypto exchange Gemini launched a new Zcash-themed credit card that pays ZEC rewards to holders.
Sentiment among traders on prediction market Myriad is thawing towards the privacy coin, after flipping bearish last week.
Analysts told Decrypt that though network activity for the privacy coin is far below its peak, offshoot projects show promise.
The 3,221 ZEC donation, worth about $1.2 million, from Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss will fund core protocol initiatives, Shielded Labs said.
The new tool helps Zcash nodes discover peers faster and more safely as they join the network.
Zcash (ZEC) is back on investors’ radar after U.S. regulators ended a long-running investigation into the Zcash Foundation without enforcement. The decision removes a key source of uncertainty that had followed the privacy-focused cryptocurrency since 2023. Related Reading: XRP Price Is Approaching A Key Decision Zone, But Structure Is Still Firmly Bullish Markets reacted quickly, with ZEC posting double-digit gains in some sessions and stabilizing above the $400 level. While regulatory clarity has helped improve sentiment, questions around governance and long-term development remain. ZEC's price trends sideways after a violent move upwards on the daily chart. Source: ZECUSD on Tradingview SEC Closes Two-Year Zcash Investigation The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission confirmed it has concluded its review of the Zcash Foundation, which began with a subpoena issued on August 31, 2023. The inquiry focused on potential securities law concerns tied to Zcash’s funding model, governance structure, and token distribution. According to the foundation, the SEC does not intend to recommend enforcement action, fines, or operational changes. This outcome marks a notable shift for privacy-focused cryptocurrencies, which have often faced heightened regulatory scrutiny due to concerns about illicit use. The decision suggests that Zcash’s privacy features alone were not deemed sufficient grounds for action under existing securities laws. The closure also aligns with a broader trend of the SEC withdrawing from several high-profile crypto investigations in recent months under new leadership. For Zcash, the end of the probe removes a regulatory overhang that had weighed on investor confidence for nearly two years. Market Reaction and Price Projections Following the announcement, ZEC surged between 5% and 14% across major exchanges, briefly testing the $440–$450 resistance zone. Currently, the token is trading around $427–$442, holding above the $400 psychological support level. Technically, ZEC remains in a consolidation phase after falling from its January high near $535. Resistance is clustered around $450–$470, while support sits near $400, with a deeper floor around $350 if sentiment weakens. Some analysts point to a symmetrical triangle pattern on longer timeframes, often viewed as a continuation structure after strong rallies. A confirmed breakout above the upper trendline could open the door toward higher levels, including a potential retest of the $1,000 mark later in 2026. Governance Uncertainty Clouds the Outlook Despite the regulatory win, internal challenges persist. Earlier this month, the full development team at Electric Coin Company (ECC), which has led core Zcash development, resigned following a dispute with its nonprofit board. Former ECC leaders cited deteriorating working conditions and have since announced plans to launch a new privacy-focused wallet, cashZ, based on Zcash technology. Related Reading: Arthur Hayes Bets On MSTR, Metaplanet And Zcash As Bitcoin Liquidity Turns The Zcash Foundation has stated that network operations and protocol stability remain unaffected by the personnel changes. Still, the departures have raised concerns about governance stability, development continuity, and long-term coordination within the ecosystem. Cover image from ChatGPT, ZECUSD chart from Tradingview
Cake offers a suite of privacy tools, including Bitcoin PayJoin transactions, though it is often associated most with Monero.
Arthur Hayes is positioning for a 2026 liquidity rebound, arguing that Bitcoin’s weak 2025 wasn’t a referendum on “crypto narratives” so much as a straightforward dollar-credit story. In his latest essay, “Frowny Cloud,” the Maelstrom CIO says he is adding risk via Strategy (MSTR), Japan’s Metaplanet, and Zcash (ZEC) as he expects US dollar liquidity to inflect higher after a year in which Bitcoin lagged both gold and US tech stocks. Hayes frames 2025 as an awkward year for the standard cross-asset shorthand that treats Bitcoin as either digital gold or a high-beta proxy for US tech. In his telling, Bitcoin behaved “as expected” under tightening conditions, while gold and the Nasdaq 100 rose for different reasons despite falling dollar liquidity. Related Reading: Here’s Why Bitcoin Volatility Sparks Fresh Attention On MicroStrategy He argues gold’s bid is being driven by sovereign balance sheets rather than retail mania, rooted in distrust of US Treasury exposure after prior asset-freeze precedents. “If the US president steals your money, it’s an instant zero. Does it then matter what price you buy gold at?” he writes, casting central banks as price-insensitive buyers. On equities, Hayes leans into an industrial-policy interpretation of the AI trade. His claim is that the US and China have effectively treated “winning AI” as strategic, dulling the usual market discipline and helping explain why the Nasdaq decoupled from his dollar-liquidity index in 2025. That divergence matters because it sets up his core takeaway for 2026: Bitcoin needs expanding dollar liquidity to regain momentum. “Bitcoin and the Nasdaq rise when dollar liquidity expands. The only problem is the recent divergence,” Hayes writes, before returning to the “vicissitudes of dollar liquidity” as the primary driver he wants to track. The Three-Pillar Liquidity Pitch Hayes’ 2026 outlook hinges on a sharp rebound in dollar credit creation. He cites three channels: a growing Fed balance sheet via Reserve Management Purchases (RMP), commercial-bank lending into “strategic industries,” and lower mortgage rates catalyzed by policy-driven demand for mortgage-backed securities. In his account, quantitative tightening faded as a dominant headwind in late 2025, with QT ending in December and RMP beginning as a new, steady buyer. He claims RMP “at a minimum” expands the balance sheet by $40 billion per month, and expects that pace to rise as government funding needs increase. The second leg is bank credit creation, which he says accelerated in 4Q25, with large lenders willing to extend loans where government equity stakes or offtake agreements reduce default risk. The third is housing: Hayes points to Trump-backed directives for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to deploy $200 billion toward MBS purchases, arguing that lower mortgage rates could unlock a familiar wealth effect and, by extension, more credit. Related Reading: Bitcoin Accumulation Continues: Strategy Purchases 1,287 BTC Amid Rising Prices He ties the pieces together with a simple conclusion: if liquidity turns, Bitcoin should follow. “Bitcoin … and dollar liquidity bottomed around the same time,” he writes, arguing that the next major leg depends less on sentiment than on renewed credit expansion. MSTR, Metaplanet, And ZCash Hayes describes himself as a “degen speculator” and says Maelstrom is already “nearly fully invested,” but he still wants “MOAR risk” to capture upside convexity if Bitcoin reclaims higher levels. Rather than using perpetuals or options, he says he’s long Strategy and Metaplanet for levered exposure via corporate balance sheets. His timing argument is valuation-relative: he compares each company’s “DAT” to Bitcoin priced in the relevant currency (yen for Metaplanet, dollars for Strategy) and says those ratios sit near the low end of the past two years, after being “down substantially” from mid-2025 peaks. He adds a key condition: “If Bitcoin can retake $110,000, investors will get the itch to go long Bitcoin through these vehicles. Given the leverage embedded in the capital structure of these businesses, they will outperform Bitcoin on the upside.” He also flags continued accumulation of Zcash. Hayes argues the departure of developers at Electric Coin Company (ECC) is not bearish: “We continue to add to our Zcash position. The departure of the devs at ECC is not bearish. I firmly believe they will ship better, more impactful products within their own for-profit entity. I’m thankful for the opportunity to buy discounted ZEC from weak hands.” At press time, MSTR traded at $179.33. Featured image from YouTube, chart from TradingView.com
On Wednesday, the Zcash Foundation announced a significant development regarding its ongoing operations: the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has concluded its investigation into the public charity. This news has sparked a notable recovery in the price of the Zcash native token (ZEC), signalling renewed investor confidence, with trading volume surging by 39% over the past 24 hours. Zcash Foundation Cleared By SEC The Zcash foundation received a subpoena from the regulatory agency back in August 31, 2023, as part of a broader inquiry titled “In the Matter of Certain Crypto Asset Offerings (SF-04569).” Related Reading: XRP Potential: Four Q1 2026 Triggers That Might Propel Price Beyond $8 After a thorough review, the Zcash Foundation was informed that the SEC does not plan to recommend any enforcement actions or changes pertaining to the organization. This comes amid significant regulatory changes towards digital assets under the Trump administration, including the appointment of the pro-crypto Paul Atkins as chair of the SEC. Similar enforcement actions against firms such as Uniswap (UNI), Coinbase (COIN) and Robinhood (HOOD) were dropped last year. ZEC Price Surges Near $440 In their statement, the foundation expressed satisfaction with the outcome, emphasizing their commitment to transparency and adherence to regulatory standards. They reiterated their focus on advancing financial infrastructure that preserves user privacy for the greater good. Related Reading: The NYC Token Crash: Allegations Of Rug Pull After $2.5 Million Liquidity Withdrawal Following this announcement, ZEC experienced a robust increase of 12%, pushing its price to approximately $437.75 at the time of writing. This surge comes after the cryptocurrency had recently dipped to a near one-month low of $363 last Saturday, illustrating a significant turnaround. However, even with this recent boost, the Zcash token still has a long way to climb. The cryptocurrency remains 86% below its all-time high of over $3,191, according to CoinGecko data. Featured image from DALL-E, chart from TradingView.com
The Zcash Foundation is the latest crypto organization to say the SEC has backed off, joining the likes of Coinbase and Ripple.
Monero (XMR) is leading the crypto market bounce by breaking out of a macro resistance level and breaching above the $600 barrier for the first time. A legendary trader has suggested that the cryptocurrency is mirroring silver’s historical breakout and could see a massive price discovery rally. Related Reading: Bitcoin Tops $92,000 As DOJ Subpoenas Escalate Trump-Powell Fight Monero Soars To New Highs On Monday, Monero outperformed the rest of the market, surging nearly 21% toward its new all-time high of $611.01. The privacy-focused cryptocurrency has been leading the start-of-year market rally, experiencing a 43% increase over the past seven days. XMR’s rally has been fueled by renewed interest in privacy tokens and redirected liquidity toward the project, which has driven its market capitalization to $10 billion for the first time. Amid this performance, veteran trader Peter Brandt drew a parallel between Monero and Silver’s long-term charts, suggesting that the cryptocurrency could be near a massive breakout. In an X post, Brandt compared Monero’s current rally to silver’s historical breakout, which led to a massive run toward new highs. Silver saw a multi-decade price setup in which its price accumulated below and retested a macro ascending resistance trendline. According to the chart, its price formed its long-term resistance during its 2011 peak, when it reached a slightly higher ATH of $49.83 before correcting. During its Q4 2025 rally, silver finally broke above this key level, nearly doubling its price toward its latest ATH of $86.23. Similarly, Monero has been forming its multi-year ascending trendline in the monthly timeframe since its 2017 high. In 2021, the cryptocurrency retested this area, also hitting a slightly higher ATH before retracing. Now, XMR has broken out of its ascending resistance and could see a similar path to silver’s recent breakout into price discovery, the post suggested. XMR to See 50% Breakout Or Breakdown Next? Market observer TraderSZ recently shared an optimistic outlook for Monero once it broke through its crucial resistance area and turned this level into support. To the trader, the cryptocurrency could reach three main price targets if momentum continues. Per the post, the initial breakout level could reach the $685 area, a more than 30% rally from the resistance level. Moreover, it could surge between 50% and 80% toward the $790 and $900 levels, like silver’s recent price discovery progression in the monthly chart. Analyst 0xMarioNawfal also highlighted XMR’s performance as “price continues to trend aggressively higher, breaking through previous resistance levels with strong momentum and minimal pullback.” To him, the structure remains bullish, with buyers stepping in and “no clear signs of distribution yet.” As a result, he forecasted potential volatility but added that as long as the price holds above recent breakout levels, the trend will remain intact. Related Reading: Solana Price Jumps, But Network Adoption Remains Weak Nonetheless, Ali Martinez posted a more concerning forecast for the cryptocurrency, suggesting that a significant correction may be around the corner. According to the chart, Monero has been forming a multi-year rising wedge pattern since 2017, with the price bouncing between the upper and lower boundaries. Based on this, XMR could likely fail to turn the macro resistance into support and begin a long-term 50% decline toward the $300 area, where the pattern’s lower boundary is currently located. As of this writing, Monero is trading at $597, a 47.5% increase in the monthly timeframe. Featured Image from Unsplash.com, Chart from TradingView.com
The Zcash protocol remains unaffected despite the governance clash and restructuring with Bootstrap.
Zcash (ZEC) suffered the steepest decline among top-tier digital assets on Jan. 8, plunging approximately 20% amid a collision of governance turmoil and a leverage-driven market flush. According to CryptoSlate data, Zcash fell to a month-low of $382, making it the day’s biggest loser on the Top 100 leaderboard. This price performance decoupled violently from […]
The post Zcash just plummeted 20% after its entire team walked out, exposing a boardroom battle over the project’s assets appeared first on CryptoSlate.
While Electric Coin Company’s development team departed to form a new company, it will still be working on Zcash.
Recent governance turmoil at Zcash has resurfaced questions about development continuity, tempering confidence after the token’s strong Q4.
In a statement, the board said that the disagreements stemmed from recent proposals to privatize the Zashi mobile wallet.
ECC's CEO, Josh Swihart, claims the team was forced to leave because of changes that made their work untenable.
The entire Electric Coin Company team behind Zcash resigned after a governance dispute with its nonprofit board, says CEO Josh Swihart.
Hayes links the privacy-focused crypto trade to credit expansion, energy prices, and the political forces shaping risk assets.
Led by Zcash, the privacy space had a breakout year in 2025. What’s coming next?
Cypherpunk Technologies boosted its zcash bet with a $28 million token purchase, lifting its holdings to 1.7% of ZEC’s circulating supply.
Cypherpunk’s ZEC position now accounts for more than a third of its stated 5% accumulation target, following a series of recent purchases.
The Zcash (ZEC) price has rallied above the psychological $500 level, providing a bullish outlook for the privacy-focused token. This comes amid a notable surge in whale accumulation and derivatives activity among crypto traders. Why Zcash (ZEC) Price Rallied Above $500 Despite Crypto Market Decline CoinMarketCap data show that the Zcash (ZEC) price has rallied above $500 again, up over 20% in the last week. This comes despite the crypto market downtrend, with Bitcoin trading in a tight range just below the psychological $90,000 level. The ZEC surge above $500 comes amid a significant increase in whale accumulation, which has contributed to this price surge. Related Reading: Zcash Explodes 700% Since September – What’s Driving The Rally Amid The Bear Market? Nansen data show a 47% increase in ZEC whale holdings, with the top 100 addresses now holding 66% of the token’s total supply. This has likely created a supply shock, sparking a rise in the Zcash (ZEC) price. Notably, there has been a 55.36% drop in the supply held by exchanges, further highlighting the accumulation trend, with investors likely moving their coins off-exchanges for long-term holding. On-chain analytics platform Lookonchain also highlighted the accumulation trend among these whales. In an X post, Lookchain revealed two newly created wallets that withdrew 26,241 ZEC ($13.5 million) from Binance. In another post, the on-chain analytics platform revealed that another whale withdrew 7,714 ZEC ($4.12 million) from Kraken. Lookonchain had also drawn attention to a whale that withdrew 30,000 ZEC ($13.25 million) from Binance last week. Activity in the derivatives market has also contributed to the Zcash (ZEC) price rally above $500. CoinGlass data show an increase in the altcoin’s open interest, indicating that traders are increasing their positions. Most of these traders are currently long with the long/short ratio above 1. This recovery marks a positive for the privacy token, which had dropped to as low as $310 earlier this month. ZEC is notably the best-performing crypto among the top tokens with a year-to-date (YTD) gain of around 800%. ‘Next Stop Is $1,000’ BitMEX co-founder Arthur Hayes declared in an X post that the next stop for the Zcash (ZEC) price is $1,000 following its recovery above $500. This represents a potential 100% gain from its current price level. The BitMEX co-founder has been bullish on the privacy token for some time now, predicting it could eventually reach $10,000. Related Reading: The Bitcoin Bull And Bear Cases That Crypto Traders Should Know About Meanwhile, Zcash’s co-founder Eli Ben-Sasson suggested that the Zcash (ZEC) price will continue to rally because of its good product, scarcity, and regulatory atmosphere. He noted that privacy is now widely recognized as necessary in crypto. As such, the privacy narrative is expected to keep fueling this price surge. At the time of writing, the Zcash (ZEC) price is trading at around $536, up over 3% in the last 24 hours, according to data from CoinMarketCap. Featured image from Freepik, chart from Tradingview.com
The privacy narrative is positioned for continued relevance into 2026, driven by practical adoption needs rather than speculative momentum.