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
Zcash’s latest price movement has pushed the privacy-focused cryptocurrency back into the spotlight, as momentum builds around a potential breakout from a long-standing resistance zone. Related Reading: What’s Happening With The Bitcoin, Ethereum, And Dogecoin Prices Recently? After a sharp climb this week, traders are watching whether ZEC can extend its gains or whether technical pressures will stall the advance. The token surged more than 9% to reach around $455, standing out in a broader market that has mostly moved sideways despite renewed optimism following the U.S. Federal Reserve’s latest policy signals. Rising demand, shifting fee structures, and notable whale activity have all contributed to ZEC’s strong performance, but the technical picture remains mixed as the asset approaches a critical threshold. ZEC's price shows bullish momentum on the daily chart. Source: ZECUSD on Tradingview Dynamic Fee Proposal and Whale Demand Lift ZEC Zcash’s rally coincides with a key development effort from its contributors. Developers and Shielded Labs proposed transitioning from fixed transaction fees to a dynamic fee market, a change aimed at improving cost efficiency during periods of high activity. Market activity also intensified. Trading volumes rose sharply, and Cypherpunk Technologies expanded its ZEC holdings while adding Zcash founder Zooko Wilcox as an advisor. On-chain data indicated accumulation from large holders, including a wallet that increased its position and sent tokens to Hyperliquid to establish a long exposure. Such behavior has tightened the circulating supply at a moment when ZEC is testing historical resistance. Zcash’s broader performance this year further adds to the current market narrative. The token has posted returns exceeding 600% over the past 12 months, helped by rising investor interest in privacy assets and a constrained supply profile. ZEC Tests Multi-Touch Resistance as Bulls Aim for Continuation Despite the strong surge, Zcash now sits near a resistance zone, roughly between $460 and $485, that has repeatedly halted rallies in previous cycles. Technical readings show improving momentum on lower timeframes, supported by stable RSI levels and a constructive parabolic SAR structure. Spot inflow data has also flipped positive, suggesting buyers are re-entering rather than exiting on strength. If ZEC breaks above the $472–$485 range, analysts note potential upside targets at $506, $556, and possibly even $600–$620. Clearing this region would mark a shift from the most recent lower-high pattern and could accelerate trend continuation. Mixed Long-Term Outlook as New Cycle Signals Emerge However, some longer-term indicators raise caution. Wave analysis from multiple chart views suggests ZEC may have completed a major corrective structure earlier in the cycle, followed by a 60% decline and a weaker recovery. Bearish divergences in momentum tools and a rising parallel channel on shorter timeframes hint that the current bounce could still be corrective. A rejection at the resistance level may lead to a retracement toward $430, followed by the $370–$398 zone. A deeper breakdown could push prices below $300 if bearish structures reassert themselves. Related Reading: Do Kwon Falls Hard — Terraform Labs Chief Gets 15 Years For Wire Fraud For now, Zcash’s price action sits at a pivotal moment. A decisive move above resistance could extend the recent surge, but failure to break through may shift momentum back toward consolidation, or even a broader downtrend. Cover image from ChatGPT, ZECUSD chart from Tradingview
Delphi Digital researcher Simon Shockey is arguing that the real story in Zcash is no longer just its price – despite ZEC having one of the most eye-popping rallies of this cycle in recent months. “The most interesting thing about ZEC today is not the price,” he wrote on X. “It’s the fact that a GBTC-style discount dislocation just appeared around ZCSH.” For Shockey, the Zcash trust setup only makes sense when viewed through the lens of what happened with Grayscale’s Bitcoin product. He reminds readers that “funds were built, and later blown up, on two different GBTC trades.” The first was the premium arbitrage, where Grayscale allowed accredited investors to subscribe at NAV with a six-month lock while GBTC traded at a “~30–40%” premium in public markets. Will Zcash Follow The GBTC Playbook? The playbook, he writes, became almost mechanical: “subscribe at NAV, lock for six months, hedge BTC exposure with CME shorts, sell GBTC at a premium, pocket the spread and lever it.” It was so widely adopted that “every TradFi family office, hedge fund tourist, and crypto-native desk was running it. It became the trade. Until, well, it didn’t…” Related Reading: Why is Zcash Surging? Analysts Break Down the ZEC Rally and What Comes Next In February 2021, after years of trading rich to NAV, GBTC flipped to a discount. Anyone mid-lockup was now long an over-priced wrapper, paying to maintain a hedge and watching the discount widen to “-30%, -40%, even -45%.” Shockey calls that dislocation “career/cycle-ending almost overnight,” and notes that it helped detonate players like 3AC, BlockFi, Genesis and DCG. But he stresses that GBTC’s story had a second act: once the discount was entrenched, “a different trade emerged: buy GBTC at a discount, wait for regulatory clarity or ETF approval, redeem at NAV, capture the collapse in the discount.” Value-oriented funds “were early and underwater for a while. But they were ultimately right. The discount evaporated as ETF approval became inevitable.” Shockey’s contention is that a structurally similar phase may now be opening around Grayscale’s Zcash trust. “This morning Grayscale filed to convert ZCSH, their Zcash trust, into an ETP,” he writes. “That filing immediately creates the early outline of a GBTC-style discount trade.” He highlights that ZCSH recently traded around 33.50 dollars per share, even though “yesterday’s trust data, with a lower ZEC price, showed NAV around forty-one dollars per share.” By his math that is “still close to a 20 percent discount. Every ZCSH share is priced materially below the ZEC it represents.” With an implied 0.0817 ZEC per share, “you are effectively getting ZEC exposure at ~$410 per ZEC when spot is well above that.” Related Reading: Why Is Zcash Thriving? Paid Promotion Or Real Momentum? The key structural shift is the proposed move from a closed trust to an exchange-traded product with redemptions. “The current trust structure does not allow redemptions,” Shockey notes. “The proposed ETP would, with one-to-one withdrawals of the actual ZEC held.” If regulators sign off, “the discount should tighten and ZCSH should move toward NAV. This is exactly what happened with GBTC as ETF approval became more realistic.” He is careful to add: “Not guaranteed. Not the same trade. But structurally very similar.” On the money-making angle, Shockey is explicit. “The discount closing is the cleanest angle. Buying ZCSH at a 20 percent discount and selling after convergence is the purest version of the trade.” Beyond that, “there is optionality if ZEC rerates during the approval window. If the privacy-oriented store-of-value narrative strengthens, ZEC can rise while the discount closes. That creates a second leg of upside that GBTC did not offer until very late.” He argues that a ZEC ETP “could unlock new demand,” since “most funds/investors cannot hold ZEC directly due to custody and mandate issues. An ETP solves that. New pools of capital often tighten discounts by themselves.” Narrative and political tailwinds, in his view, are real. “Bitcoin’s lack of privacy is back in focus. The quantum-risk discussion is getting louder.” He points to mainstream airtime, including comments from VanEck’s CEO about Bitcoin’s shortcomings and ZEC as a potential hedge, as a signal that the story has escaped pure crypto-Twitter. His closing summary captures the asymmetric, time-bounded nature of the bet: “If markets keep leaning toward the idea that ZEC is absorbing the role Bitcoin stepped away from, then ZCSH becomes the cleanest vehicle to express that view. You get ZEC exposure in public markets, which could become a major driver of rerating as flows pick up, plus a built-in twenty percent discount that only exists until the ETP is approved. ZODL?” At press time, Zcash traded at $509.84. Featured image created with DALL.E, chart from TradingView.com
Zcash (ZEC) is back in the spotlight after a dramatic rebound. Following Monday’s steep fall to roughly $548, the privacy coin has bounced sharply, gaining 12% in the last 24 hours and reclaiming the $670 level. Related Reading: Bitcoin To Suffer 40% Crash From All-Time High? Analyst Reveals ‘Final Target’ After surging more than 1,500% year-to-date and rallying 175% in the past month, the privacy-focused cryptocurrency is now testing a major bullish breakout pattern, leaving traders wondering what comes next and whether ZEC can truly sustain this momentum. ZEC's price trends to the upside on the daily chart. Source: ZECUSD on Tradingview Institutional Accumulation Fuels a Powerful Upswing A major catalyst behind Zcash’s meteoric rise has been aggressive accumulation from high-profile institutional players. The newly rebranded Cypherpunk Technologies, backed by Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss, has snapped up 233,644 ZEC, worth roughly $150 million. This stash now represents around 1.25% of the circulating supply, with the firm openly declaring plans to raise its holdings to at least 5%. This level of concentration has tightened liquid supply and injected strong confidence across the market. Supporting the trend, long-time privacy advocate Arthur Hayes has openly backed ZEC, predicting a run to $1,000 and even suggesting Zcash could eventually reach 20% of Bitcoin’s value. The upcoming November 2025 halving has added another bullish layer. With block rewards set to fall by 50%, ZEC will enter a sharply reduced-issuance environment, historically a strong driver of scarcity-led rallies across major cryptocurrencies. Technical Indicators Signal a Potential Zcash (ZEC) Breakout On the technical front, Zcash is close to confirming a classic inverse head and shoulders formation on the 4-hour chart. The neckline sits around $690, and a decisive breakout above this level could open a path toward $956, a nearly 40% upside from recent prices. ZEC is also trading above its 50-day EMA at $613, while a green Supertrend signal hints at sustained bullish momentum. Still, analysts caution that ZEC must hold above the EMA to avoid invalidating the formation. Key support remains at $600–$605, where momentum has recently cooled. Coordinated Influence and Growing Privacy Demand Beyond charts and supply mechanics, market observers say a coordinated narrative push is also at play. Crypto media figure Ran Neuner believes influential industry players are rallying behind Zcash to spotlight privacy as a critical next frontier. According to him, this is less a pump-and-dump and more a long-term mission around compliant, user-controlled privacy, a feature that differentiates ZEC from rivals like Monero. Related Reading: XRP Supply Shock Ahead? ETFs Could Consume It All, Analyst Predicts If ZEC can maintain its breakout structure and demand for privacy-focused assets continues to rise, Zcash may be positioning itself not just for a short-term spike, but for a serious challenge to broader market rankings in the months ahead. Cover image from ChatGPT, ZECUSD chart from Tradingview
After years in the wilderness, Zcash (ZEC) has staged a roughly 740% price “pump” this year, with analysts linking the move to surging demand for on-chain privacy and a cluster of high-profile endorsements. The speed and timing of the rally have ignited a heated debate on X: is Zcash’s resurgence driven by coordinated paid promotion, or by genuine improvements in its technology and monetary design? The flashpoint came from infrastructure founder Mert Mumtaz (@0xMert_), who mocked the idea that a single “mega-whale” is paying off every visible supporter. “There’s a person in crypto so rich that they are simultaneously paying off Cobie, Naval Ravikant, Balaji Srinivasan, me, Tim Ferris, [Arthur] Hayes, Gainzy, path, Ansem, the Winklevoss Twins, Toly [Yakovenko] and more. (all of whom require just one final OTC KOL deal to finally make it). Either that or I’m retarded.” there’s a person in crypto so rich that they are simultaneously paying off cobie, naval, balaji, me, tim ferris, hayes, gainzy, path, ansem, the winklevoss twins, toly and more (all of whom require just one final OTC KOL deal to finally make it) either that or I’m retarded — mert | helius.dev (@0xMert_) November 16, 2025 In a follow-up, he argued the real story is investor psychology, writing that “people would rather believe the above than admit that they sidelined themselves due to poor thinking and emotion.” Why Is Zcash Surging Now? Mert then laid out why, in his view, Zcash is rallying now: a more favorable political window for privacy coins in the US, issuance reduction, NEAR Intents that turn ZEC into a “shielded swiss vault” for one-click cross-chain payments, the default-shielding Zashi wallet with “100x better UX,” the 100x-scaling ambitions of Project Tachyon. Related Reading: Winklevoss Twins Back Zcash (ZEC) Treasury Company With $58M Investment On the long list of arguments he added the disillusionment with an increasingly institutional Bitcoin, Europe’s tightening surveillance regime, maturing zero-knowledge tech, fatigue with supply-controlled coins that were “dumped” on retail, and the broader “debasement trade” pushing investors toward alternative stores of value. He closed: “you combine all of the above with a little spark and the fire spreads fast. There is no conspiracy, just think. This is not a trade.” Skeptics see the same facts very differently. One user complained that Jordan Fish [@Cobie), a prominent UK-based crypto investor and trader, had become a “paid zcash shill,” and asked whether “all the big KOLs just randomly decided to just start shilling Zcash.” Cobie replied that his interest was not new at all: “Just started? I have been doing this almost 10 years (painfully),” resurfacing a 2017 tweet about buying ZEC if the price ever hit $0.3. When his critic apologized, Cobie turned to fundamentals: “Zcash has a lot of recent developments actually IMO. (1) One of the coolest things I have seen: Project Tachyon. (2) They fixed the brutal inflation that killed us. (3) Zcash + NEAR intents for permissionless cross-chain swaps seems to actually be working.” Zcash has a lot of recent developments actually IMO. (1) One of the coolest things I have seen: https://t.co/3wXNpugkna (2) They fixed the brutal inflation that killed us (3) Zcash + NEAR intents for permissionless cross-chain swaps seems to actually be working:… pic.twitter.com/JgVFh9Xg3T — Cobie (@cobie) November 16, 2025 Those developments are verifiable. Zcash’s engineering roadmap has advanced from experimental cryptography to production-grade systems. Project Tachyon, outlined by Zcash researcher Sean Bowe, proposes “oblivious synchronization,” a way for wallets to sync shielded notes without leaking metadata, drastically lowering latency and making large-scale shielded usage practical. Related Reading: Arthur Hayes Outlines Why Zcash Could Surge To $10,000–$20,000 Fast On the user side, the Zashi wallet has become the flagship interface, abstracting away complex shielding flows and steering users into private, shielded transactions by default. Research from Galaxy and other analysts notes that shielded supply has climbed from low single-digit percentages a few years ago to roughly a quarter of all circulating ZEC, with estimates around 30% of supply now parked in the shielded pool. Influencer activity undeniably amplifies this. Naval Ravikant’s October post, “Bitcoin is insurance against fiat. ZCash is insurance against Bitcoin,” was widely cited as an immediate catalyst for a sharp doubling in ZEC’s price and cemented the “privacy insurance” meme. The Zcash debate ultimately sits at the intersection of reflexive markets and real progress. Genuine upgrades in issuance, UX and scalability, plus a harsher global climate for financial privacy, have created a strong fundamental backdrop. Vocal advocates with large audiences have compressed years of re-rating into weeks, leaving sidelined traders searching for explanations. Whether one calls that paid promotion, organic momentum or a feedback loop of both, the current cycle shows how quickly a once-written-off privacy coin can become crypto’s latest battleground. At press time, ZEC traded at $682. Featured image created with DALL.E, chart from TradingView.com
ZEC has entered a sharp correction phase after a 1,500% rally that pushed the Zcash price to a seven-year high of nearly $744. The coin, which became the top-performing privacy asset in 2025, is now down over 25% from its all-time high as traders question whether its parabolic uptrend has finally peaked. Related Reading: Is The Dogecoin Bottom In? Analyst Explains What Matters Now According to data from TradingView, ZEC began its meteoric rise in early September, breaking through long-term resistance levels at $400. However, analysts now warn that the asset may have reached its cyclical top. Popular trader Altcoin Sherpa cautioned that such steep, prolonged rallies often “end with a sharp and painful collapse.” Similarly, technical indicators show ZEC’s RSI recently hit 94.2, an extreme overbought reading last seen during its 2017–2018 boom. ZEC's price records sharp losses on the daily chart. Source: ZECUSD on Tradingview Analysts Warn of Deep Pullback Toward $300–$400 Range Multiple market observers expect a deeper correction in the weeks ahead. Trader Greeny noted that Zcash’s current rally is “the longest in its history” and could mirror previous cycles that ended with 45%–90% drawdowns. On the daily chart, ZEC appears trapped within a corrective channel, suggesting further downside unless strong support emerges around the $400 zone. Still, not all analysts are bearish. Technical analyst Valdrin Tahiri emphasized that ZEC’s MACD and RSI indicators, although overbought, exhibit no bearish divergence, suggesting that the pullback may be a temporary correction rather than the beginning of a prolonged downtrend. If bulls manage to defend the $400 level, the coin could stabilize before resuming its broader bullish structure. Arthur Hayes Sees Long-Term Upside Amid Fiscal Expansion Adding intrigue to the ongoing correction, BitMEX co-founder Arthur Hayes recently reaffirmed his bullish stance on Zcash, predicting that both BTC and ZEC could benefit from renewed U.S. fiscal stimulus. Hayes argues that as government liquidity increases, privacy coins like Zcash stand to gain as investors seek decentralized and censorship-resistant assets. Related Reading: Dogecoin Does Not Have Potential For A Strong Move Upward, Analyst Says While short-term volatility dominates the charts, long-term holders remain confident. Zcash’s advanced zk-SNARKs technology continues to position it as a key player in privacy innovation, and if fiscal easing drives another liquidity wave, ZEC could yet stage a remarkable comeback. Cover image from ChatGPT, ZECUSD chart from Tradingview
Zcash (ZEC) has made a dramatic return to prominence, breaking into the top 20 cryptocurrencies after soaring more than 1,270% year-over-year. Related Reading: Cathie Wood Trims Her 2030 Bitcoin Price Prediction To $1.2 Million – Here’s Why The Zcash price recently surged above $650 for the first time since 2018, with a market capitalization of nearly $10 billion. According to CoinGecko, daily trading volume has surpassed $1.88 billion, with strong liquidity across Binance, Hyperliquid, and Bybit. This momentum reflects a growing resurgence of interest in privacy-preserving technologies amid increasing concerns over financial surveillance. The Electric Coin Company’s (ECC) recent upgrades, including those under Project Tachyon, and the rising adoption of the Zashi wallet have revitalized investor confidence. Privacy Narrative and Technical Upgrades Drive Momentum The renewed enthusiasm around privacy coins mirrors a broader market shift. Zcash’s shielded transactions, powered by zk-SNARKs, now represent over 30% of its circulating supply, reducing liquid float and contributing to price stability. Its integration into DeFi ecosystems through tokenized versions on Solana and BNB Chain has also expanded ZEC’s reach, with over 16,000 wallets interacting with these assets. Prominent voices like Naval Ravikant and Arthur Hayes have championed Zcash’s role in the evolving privacy revolution, calling it “the missing piece for Bitcoin.” Meanwhile, the Zcash Foundation maintains that the surge reflects genuine user demand rather than speculative hype. Futures data further supports this thesis, with balanced long-short ratios around 1.1, indicating sustained, organic buying interest rather than excessive leverage. ZEC's price trends to the upside on the daily chart. Source: ZECUSD on Tradingview Can Zcash Price Hit $1,000 Next? Analysts Weigh In The current Zcash price rally has sparked debate over its next target. Technical charts indicate robust support between $500 and $520, while resistance is located near $580–$600. Analysts from CoinGlass and Galaxy Digital project a conservative range of $650 – $750 in the near term, with an optimistic scenario pushing toward $1,000 if momentum persists. The bullish thesis hinges on the strength of the privacy narrative, expanding institutional participation, and ZEC’s scarcity model, mirroring Bitcoin’s 21 million-coin cap. However, traders caution that overbought conditions and potential regulatory headwinds could trigger short-term pullbacks. Related Reading: XRP Price Correction Is Far From Over: Bearish Divergence Signals Potential Revisit To $2.05 Nonetheless, with privacy becoming an increasingly valuable digital commodity, the Zcash price resurgence could mark not just a comeback, but a redefinition of how cryptocurrency balances transparency, utility, and financial freedom. Cover image from ChatGPT, ZECUSD chart from Tradingview
Arthur Hayes thinks Zcash can move an order of magnitude faster than most investors expect—and he spelled out why in a Coin Bureau interview released on November 3. The former BitMEX CEO ties the new Zcash bull case to a three-part story that mixes technical maturation, visible shifts in on-chain behavior, and a looming supply inflection. “I think that 10% to 20% of the value of Bitcoin quite quickly is something that Zcash could achieve,” he said—an estimate that, at current Bitcoin prices, translates to roughly $10,000–$20,000 per ZEC. Why Zcash Could Skyrocket To $10,000-$20,000 For Hayes, the technology is no longer the 2016 experiment that divided the market over ceremony theater and cryptographic trust. He recounted being “deep into Zcash in 2016” when BitMEX listed a pre-genesis futures market and spot prices briefly printed around “$3,000 a coin on Poloniex” before supply filled in. What’s changed, he argues, is the removal—by protocol upgrades—of the original single biggest credibility drag. “One of the big issues with Zcash back then was this trusted setup issue… but essentially, I think it was the Halo 2 upgrade recently removed or maybe a few years ago removed that trusted setup issue.” That, in his telling, reframes Zcash from a clever but encumbered R&D project into a privacy asset whose cryptography now clears the institutional sniff test. Related Reading: Zcash Rally Gains Steam, Can ZEC’s 4.5M Shielded Supply Push It Back Into the Top 20? He couples that with direct user-level experience. Hayes says he installed Zashi, Zcash’s flagship wallet, and used Near Intents flows to shield and swap, which he likened to an industrial-strength mixer. “When you do that, it’s essentially like Tornado Cash on steroids,” he said, emphasizing that the resulting output asset “appears, but it’s not linked to any other transaction.” Costs remain a friction—“It’s definitely not cheap yet”—but he points to trend data he has reviewed showing a secular rise in actual privacy usage: “the amount of shielded transactions is approaching I think 30%, up from like a few percentage points when I cared about Zcash a long time ago.” In other words, the privacy feature set is not just theoretically stronger; it is being used. The demand narrative rests on a simple claim: in the age of on-chain forensics and AI-enabled pattern recognition, true cash-like privacy is a product with differentiated utility. Hayes draws a sharp line between pseudonymity and privacy. “I believe in privacy coins… I think Bitcoin being synonymous is actually a good thing because I want to be able to track Bitcoin, but I also want to have internet cash where there is no traceability of that.” He contrasts Zcash with Monero’s recent headlines, citing reports that “the Japanese authorities were able to deanonymize Monero by… linking together different disparate parts of some information.” Scarcity is the third pillar. Hayes flags the Zcash halving “coming up in a few weeks, November,” framing it as the timing catalyst that could supercharge reflexivity if investor attention and liquidity arrive in tandem. The supply cut is not the entire story for him—he dismisses halving dogma in Bitcoin—but he does view a synchronous demand narrative plus a mechanical issuance drop as unusually potent for a small-float asset when a privacy bid is already rising on-chain. Related Reading: $10K Is Coming: Arthur Hayes’ Zcash ‘Vibe Check’ Sparks 30% Moonshot Liquidity and access are precisely why he sees the setup as asymmetric. Zcash is not broadly quotable, which is a risk and an opportunity. “I hit up… eight or nine OTC brokers. Only two brokers would quote me Zcash,” he said, describing how hard it was to acquire size through traditional venues. He expects that, if the price begins to trend, the path will run through permissionless rails rather than regulated exchanges. “If the price rises high enough… I can buy it on one of these decentralized exchanges and that’ll be how you really get access… just like how Bitcoin was back [then].” Hayes also addresses the change in his own posture, including what catalyzed it. He credits a dinner during Token2049 with Naval Ravikant, who “started shilling me on Zcash,” prompting him to push past his 2016-era objections and re-underwrite the protocol. “I bought a few million bucks on the spot at that point,” he said, adding that he kept buying “even though I bought it after the 80% pump when Naval sent out that tweet.” Hayes believes the upside can compress into weeks rather than years. In his words: “I’ve bought a lot of it… I’m still buying it. I think that this is probably going to be one of my better trades of the cycle.” At press time, ZEC traded at $464. Featured image created with DALL.E, chart from TradingView.com
Zcash (ZEC) is stealing the spotlight once again. The privacy-focused asset has surged more than 50% in the past week, climbing above $350 and fueling talk of a potential return to the top 20 digital assets by market capitalization. Related Reading: Bitcoin Technical Setup Shows Short-Term Pullback May Fuel Long-Term Upside Behind this rally lies a mix of technical strength, institutional catalysts, and renewed global demand for digital privacy. ZEC's price trends to the upside with recent small losses on the daily chart. Source: ZECUSD on Tradingview Zcash’s Shielded Supply Hits 4.5 Million Supporting Zcash’s resurgence is a major milestone. 4.5 million ZEC are now stored in shielded addresses, representing roughly 28% of total supply. These shielded pools leverage Zcash’s zero-knowledge proof technology (zk-SNARKs), allowing users to transact privately without revealing sender, receiver, or transaction amounts. This rise in shielded coins signals growing trust in ZEC’s privacy infrastructure, especially as wallets and exchanges improve support for shielded transactions. The move also expands Zcash’s overall anonymity set, strengthening privacy for all participants while tightening on-chain liquidity. As one of the oldest and most advanced privacy blockchains, ZEC’s growth in shielded adoption reinforces its core mission of financial confidentiality in an increasingly monitored digital world. Technical Indicators Point to More Upside Zcash’s market momentum remains robust. Daily trading volume soared above $730 million, while the RSI at 71.8 and a bullish MACD crossover suggest strong buying pressure. The token’s structure continues to make higher highs and higher lows, indicating a healthy uptrend. Analysts see resistance near $370–$400, with a potential breakout opening the path toward $450–$500 in the coming weeks. ZEC’s recent surge also coincides with Arthur Hayes’ bold prediction that the coin could reach $1,000, as the market rotates into privacy-focused assets. With Grayscale’s Zcash Trust surpassing $137 million in assets under management, and whispers of a possible ETF conversion, institutional exposure could further amplify this rally. Privacy Tokens Regain Spotlight Amid Regulatory Uncertainty Zcash’s resurgence reflects a broader renewal of interest in privacy tokens like Monero (XMR) amid heightened surveillance and KYC mandates in global markets. As governments tighten oversight, traders and institutions are rediscovering ZEC’s unique role as a bridge between compliant infrastructure and privacy rights. Related Reading: Bitcoin Crash To $87,600 Looms If This Support Snaps, Warns Veteran Analyst If Zcash sustains its current momentum, maintains its 4.5M shielded supply growth, and breaks the $400 ceiling, a return to the top 20 cryptos by market cap could soon become reality, supporting ZEC’s comeback as the flagship privacy asset of this cycle. Cover image from ChatGPT, ZECUSD chart from Tradingview
Zcash (ZEC) has exploded in value past $350, clearing its 2021 high and igniting a wave of renewed optimism across the digital assets ecosystem. A surge in demand tied to privacy, cross-chain integration and bold market calls are pushing ZEC into the spotlight. Related Reading: $10K Is Coming: Arthur Hayes’ Zcash ‘Vibe Check’ Sparks 30% Moonshot Rally Driven by Privacy Narrative and Major Price Call Zcash’s recent rally is nothing short of dramatic. In the past month, ZEC’s price surged roughly 380 % and smashed through its May 2021 closing level of around US$319. This breakout has drawn fresh attention to the coin’s core value proposition, transaction anonymity, at a time when regulatory scrutiny and surveillance concerns are rising globally. Adding fuel to the fire, Arthur Hayes, co-founder and former CEO of BitMEX, publicly predicted that ZEC could ultimately reach US$10,000. Markets responded swiftly; within 24 hours of Hayes’s “vibe check” post on X, ZEC jumped over 30 %. The privacy-coin resurgence appears well underway. Meanwhile, technical analysts argue the rise is more than hype. ZEC’s chart now showcases breakout patterns, rising volumes, and a shift in smart-money positioning. However, caution remains. Many analysts note that although the price is reflecting a strong narrative, actual usage of shielded transactions remains limited. ZEC's price trends to the upside on the daily chart. Source: ZECUSD on Tradingview Zcash (ZEC) Ecosystem Integrations Add Strength Behind the price action lies concrete ecosystem development. Zcash integration into other chains, such as its wrapped version on Solana, is reviving interest, while new solutions seek to restore ZEC’s full privacy features across cross-chain networks. For example, the project Encifher is enabling encrypted versions of ZEC (eZEC) using fully homomorphic encryption on Solana so that users can transact privately while still engaging with DeFi. Other catalysts include the anticipated halving event, which is due to cut miner rewards in mid-November, tightening supply. Added to that, institutional frameworks such as the debut of a trust vehicle for ZEC are reportedly expanding exposure. All told, these structural shifts support the narrative. Related Reading: Forget Inflation: Bitcoin Rallies When The Dollar Falls, Study Finds Nevertheless, even with infrastructure rising, the risk remains that price is racing ahead of real adoption. Analysts warn of a “sell the news” scenario if new integrations or usage metrics fail to materialize. Cover image from ChatGPT, ZECUSD chart from Tradingview