The reasons for the notable increase in the value of the privacy-focused altcoin Zcash (ZEC) are currently a subject of interest, particularly with its recent upward trend.
ZEC's price has seen a substantial surge of 33% in the past 24 hours and an impressive 433% over the last month. These figures are particularly noteworthy for an altcoin with a market capitalization in the billions of dollars.
Zcash, which is available on major centralized cryptocurrency exchanges such as Binance and Coinbase, has a history that extends back to the early stages of the cryptocurrency market. Launched in 2016, ZEC is built upon Bitcoin's codebase. Its limited supply at the time of its inception contributed to its all-time high price, which reached approximately $3,000.
Following Ethereum's transition to the Proof of Stake consensus mechanism, Zcash has emerged as a significant representative among altcoins utilizing the Proof of Work consensus mechanism, alongside Bitcoin.
Interestingly, after remaining below $100 for several years, the cryptocurrency hit an all-time low of $15 in July 2024. The situation was so critical that Binance, the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange, initiated a delisting vote for ZEC in April. The altcoin ultimately avoided delisting from Binance by being among the successful candidates in this vote.
Binance and other cryptocurrency exchanges have faced pressure regarding the delisting of privacy tokens like ZEC, particularly in Europe, due to the inherent difficulties in tracing transactions associated with these assets.
However, Monero (XMR), another prominent privacy token, has not experienced a similar surge in value to ZEC recently. In fact, XMR has been delisted from numerous major cryptocurrency exchanges.
Factors Driving Zcash's Recent Surge
Several factors are contributing to Zcash's recent price increase. There has been a discernible resurgence of interest in privacy infrastructure within the cryptocurrency market. Additionally, the Electric Coin Company, the development firm behind ZEC, has recently implemented a series of technical updates. Analysts at Galaxy Digital have also observed that, due to its foundation on Bitcoin's codebase, ZEC is increasingly being considered by some users as a viable alternative to BTC.
Zcash empowers users to "hedge" transactions through the use of zero-knowledge proofs. The network's capacity to facilitate anonymous activity has garnered attention from individuals who are concerned about the potential for Bitcoin's centralization due to Wall Street's increasing involvement or who are wary of on-chain surveillance.