Zcash Soars Over 700% YTD, Drives 80% Rally in Privacy Coins Amid Regulatory Tightening and Institutional Inflows
Zcash (ZEC) has surged more than 700% year-to-date, leading an 80% rally across privacy coins as regulatory tightening in the EU and US fuels safe-haven demand. The network’s shielded pool jumped 25%, with private transactions now accounting for around 30% of daily volume. Institutional interest has grown sharply after Grayscale reopened its ZEC Trust with lower fees and 4–5% staking yields, driving assets under management up 228% and locking roughly 2% of circulating ZEC. Technological upgrades have also boosted sentiment: ZKsync’s Atlas upgrade ramped throughput to 30,000 TPS while Secret (SCRT), Dash (DASH) and Horizen (ZEN) rolled out cross-chain anonymity enhancements. Other privacy tokens, including ZK (ZKsync), rallied—ZK jumped 130% post-upgrade. Traders now debate whether ZEC’s fixed supply, PoW security and privacy features merit a “Bitcoin silver” status. Sustainability will hinge on continued shield-pool growth, stable compliance channels for institutions and expanding real-world use cases.
Bullish
Zcash’s massive year-to-date gain and 80% sector rally underpinned by regulatory and institutional drivers signal strong market confidence. The surge in shielded transactions, major AUM inflows via Grayscale and critical upgrades from ZKsync and other privacy projects suggest sustained demand. In the short term, momentum may fuel further price advances, while long-term outlook depends on continued compliance channels, shield-pool expansion and real-world use cases—factors that could cement ZEC’s role as a structural crypto asset.