@Zcash's $ZEC climbed 10.25% over the past 24 hours to trade near $1,195, lifting its market capitalisation to $20.16 billion and placing it tenth on CoinMarketCap, just ahead of Dogecoin and
@Zcash's $ZEC climbed 10.25% over the past 24 hours to trade near $1,195, lifting its market capitalisation to $20.16 billion and placing it tenth on CoinMarketCap, just ahead of Dogecoin and Monero. Trading volume over the same period reached $1.4 billion.
The weekly gain is a more modest 2.66%, reflecting a dip toward $1,000 on Friday before a steady recovery. Circulating supply stands at 16.86 million coins against a hard cap of 21 million, a design it shares with Bitcoin.
The latest move is part of a much larger story. $ZEC has surged roughly 2,496% over the past year, with its market-cap ranking jumping from 82nd place to the current top ten during that run. It now accounts for approximately 62% of the entire privacy sector's total market value.
Several catalysts have underpinned the rally. Grayscale's Zcash ETF launched on 25 August and quickly drew institutional attention, with the fund's assets under management approaching $700 million within its first two weeks of trading, according to Coinbase. An earlier regulatory overhang was also removed in January 2026 when the SEC closed its investigation into the Zcash Foundation without recommending enforcement action.
On the network side, the Ironwood upgrade introduced a new shielded pool following a previously disclosed vulnerability, with around 176,000 ZEC migrating into the new pool on its first day. Approximately 30% of ZEC supply is now held in shielded addresses, a figure analysts say reflects genuine adoption rather than short-term speculation.
The broader privacy coin sector has been crypto's strongest performing category by some distance. The sector is up 213% since Bitcoin reached its October 2025 peak, according to Glassnode data, making it the only major crypto category still trading above that level. Bitcoin itself remains roughly 36% below its October 2025 high, while the median top-200 asset is down around 58%.
Even stripping out Zcash entirely, the remaining privacy basket is up 85% over the past year, with Monero, Dash, and Zen all posting notable gains. Only 25 of the 200 largest crypto assets are in positive territory for the year, making $ZEC's performance a clear outlier.
Risks remain. Short squeezes have amplified parts of the move, and analysts note that leveraged positions could create sharp reversals. A planned quantum-proof upgrade scheduled for later in 2026 adds a longer-term technical narrative, though complex cryptographic upgrades carry execution risk.
Sources:Crypto Times: ZEC Leads Privacy Coin Rally as Sector Surges 213%Bitcoin Foundation: Why Zcash Could Be the Biggest Privacy Coin Comeback of 2026CoinDesk: Zcash Jumps 20% to Landmark $1,000 Level
