The reasons for this increase in the value of the privacy-focused altcoin Zcash (ZEC), which is on the agenda again with its rise today, are being questioned.
The price of ZEC has surged 33% in the last 24 hours and 433% in the last month. These figures are unusual for an altcoin with a billion-dollar market capitalization.
Listed on Binance, Coinbase, and many other centralized cryptocurrency exchanges, the altcoin’s history dates back to the early days of the cryptocurrency market. Launched in 2016, ZEC is based on Bitcoin’s codebase and, due to its limited supply at the time, reached an all-time high price of around $3,000.
After Ethereum switched to the Proof of Stake consensus mechanism, Zcash became one of the most important representatives among the altcoins with the Proof of Work consensus mechanism, along with Bitcoin.
Interestingly, the cryptocurrency, which had remained below $100 for years, hit an all-time low of $15 in July 2024. So much so that Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, initiated a delisting vote for ZEC last April, and the altcoin was saved from being delisted by Binance by being one of the winners of this vote.
Chart showing the change in the ZEC price in recent months.
Binance and other cryptocurrency exchanges are under pressure from delisting, particularly in Europe, due to the difficulty of tracing ZEC and other privacy tokens.
However, Monero (XMR), a similar privacy token, hasn’t experienced the same surge as ZEC recently. XMR has also been delisted from many major cryptocurrency exchanges.
So, what’s causing Zcash’s recent surge? This can be attributed to multiple factors. There’s been a renewed interest in privacy infrastructure in the cryptocurrency market recently. Furthermore, Electric Coin Company, the company behind ZEC, has recently implemented numerous technical updates. Galaxy Digital analysts also noted that ZEC, due to its use of Bitcoin’s codebase, is starting to be seen by some users as a BTC alternative.
Zcash allows users to “hedge” transactions with zero-knowledge proofs, and the network’s ability to support anonymous activity has attracted interest from some who fear Bitcoin is becoming centralized with Wall Street adoption or are wary of on-chain surveillance.
*This is not investment advice.
