Zcash is showing privacy coins are far from dead, posting one of the strongest runs in crypto while an ETF buys up a meaningful chunk of the supply. x.com
Albert Ana
AI & Crypto Commentary
Zcash will rip now that the Winklevoss twins have filed for a spot Zcash ETF under the ticker WINK; the same twins filed the first bitcoin ETF in 2013, when bitcoin was around $100. Zcash is holding near $1,300 while everything else bleeds. x.com
Real money is showing up for privacy, one of the biggest narratives this year, which is good news for Zcash. Per @MSBIntel, Grayscale's Zcash ETF has raised over $1 billion in 30 trading days, ranking among the best ETF launches of the last ten years. x.com
Zcash's price is running ahead of its usage, so this rally is not one to buy yet. ZEC is becoming the privacy coin Wall Street can buy, as Grayscale works to turn its trust holding 2.3% of supply into an NYSE-listed ETF, and Flexa and CrossPay add spending options. But after a 68% weekly jump to about $14B, nearly twice Monero, the ETF is not live, the 200K ZEC contribution has not happened and fees were about $2K in a day. A live ETF, real inflows and a held pullback would change the view. … Show more
Bitcoin's growing adoption could itself be the catalyst for privacy coins such as Zcash and Monero. The more bitcoin is integrated into exchanges, ETFs, banks and payment rails, the easier it becomes to map identities to addresses. Bitcoin's scarcity case strengthens while its privacy gap becomes more obvious, which makes for an interesting setup for Zcash and Monero. x.com
Zcash has its own buyers, so it keeps pushing its own bull run regardless of the CLARITY Act or the Fed. People who want privacy don't wait for Powell, more surveillance on exchanges pushes them toward privacy, and privacy wins long term. A run toward $1,500 would be a point to take a little profit. x.com x.com x.com x.com
Zcash is a higher-risk store of value because bugs in its proof system have made undetectable counterfeiting possible. Those bugs have been exploited twice, and nobody can verify whether counterfeit ZEC was created. Litecoin's MWEB privacy layer had a validation bug exploited to mint 85,000 counterfeit LTC, showing privacy-focused monetary systems can introduce real security and supply risks. Their privacy can still make them useful for moving funds quickly and privately. x.com
Zcash's latest development is probably bullish, since Bitcoin maximalists are scared of Zcash. x.com
Privacy crypto could be the biggest crypto bet of 2026 because institutions are now buying and the sector is generating real revenue. Multicoin Capital revealed a big Zcash investment and Grayscale applied for a spot ZEC ETF; ZEC reached $600 and Dash rose 135%. While bitcoin is still 30% below its high, privacy protocols are printing revenue: NEAR $5.05 million, Railgun $4.62 million and Zcash $200,000. x.com x.com
Zcash is hot because shills realized a year ago it has the perfect setup for them to size in, control the narrative and pump it. That setup combines a sweet-spot market cap, centralized-exchange integrations, a long dormant history and a simple 'bitcoin but private' thesis. x.com
Holders are rotating from bitcoin into Zcash, and the shift is still early. Per @jeremiahrogers, bitcoin holders who swapped into ZEC through NEAR intents now hold 468,606 ZEC, 2.92% of the network, worth $736M, versus $200.4M had they stayed in bitcoin. x.com