Zcash monthly big pump 380% market capitalization surged to 5.8 billion USD! The privacy revolution of Bitcoin fork returns

In recent years, Zcash (ZEC) has been little more than a historical footnote, seen as a relic of the Cypherpunk era of crypto assets, forgotten amidst the new wave of AI Tokens. However, it has become one of the most surprising comeback stories of 2025 almost overnight. Data shows that Zcash has skyrocketed over 380% in the past month, reaching a three-year high of $370 at one point.

What is Zcash? The Privacy Revolution Forked from Bitcoin

Zcash was launched in 2016 as a fork of Bitcoin. It draws on Bitcoin's deflationary design, including supply cap, proof-of-work consensus, and regular halving. However, it introduces a revolutionary innovation called zero-knowledge proofs, allowing users to verify transactions without revealing who sent or received the funds or the transaction amount.

In an era where every wallet transaction on the blockchain is made public, Zcash's encryption technology offers a solution closer to digital cash. This gives it characteristics such as untraceability, interchangeability, and sovereignty. Helius Labs CEO Mert Mumtaz stated, “Calling ZEC 'crypto Bitcoin' is reasonable because it has the same token economic model and value storage appeal, but it is private.”

This concept resonated in the years following the Snowden incident, when privacy was still regarded as a human right rather than a danger signal. The core idea of Zcash is that financial privacy should not be a privilege of criminals, but a fundamental right for everyone. Just as physical cash transactions are not recorded on a public ledger, digital currency transactions should also enjoy the same level of privacy protection.

However, as regulatory agencies strengthen their crackdown, exchanges are increasingly delisting Crypto Assets that promote anonymity, and Zcash is gradually fading from mainstream trading platforms like Monero and Dash. Its daily trading volume has shrunk, and the developer community has diminished, leading the project to ultimately become synonymous with forgotten experimental projects in the Crypto Assets field. Until now, it has welcomed its ninth anniversary and has become a new favorite among retail investors.

Three Major Driving Forces Behind the 380% Surge

(Source: Trading View)

The recent revival of Zcash is driven by technological advancements, ideological momentum, and market rotation. Since 2021, Zcash has become a hot topic globally for the first time, and rather than being a speculative behavior, it serves as a reminder that privacy remains crucial in the realm of digital currencies.

Technical Upgrade: Zero-Knowledge Proof Architecture Innovation

The project recently released a public alpha version of its new zero-knowledge architecture, aimed at improving the performance of protected transactions and the accessibility of wallets. This development has reignited the enthusiasm of privacy researchers, who view Zcash as a living laboratory for applied cryptography.

The new architecture addresses a long-standing pain point of Zcash: the high computational cost and slow processing speed of shielded transactions (privacy transactions using zero-knowledge proofs), which leads to a poor user experience. The upgraded system significantly enhances transaction speed, reduces fees, and improves the wallet interface, allowing ordinary users to easily utilize privacy features.

GitHub developer metrics show a steady increase in contributions, while mining data indicates that hash power is gradually decentralizing. These technical improvements lay a solid foundation for the long-term development of Zcash. Even skeptics acknowledge that considering only a few projects around 2016 are still operating according to their original consensus models, and have active developers and well-functioning economic systems, the durability of Zcash is remarkable.

Revival of Ideas: Privacy Rights Back in Focus

The return of ZEC comes at a time when global financial regulation is increasingly strengthening. The implementation of digital identity verification in the UK, the privacy provisions of the EU's MiCA, and the growing prevalence of artificial intelligence trading tracking technology have reignited discussions about what financial privacy actually means in a programmable economy.

“A cryptocurrency without privacy is not a cryptocurrency,” Mumtaz said, praising the project's “revival” in developer activity and exchange integration. This statement was supported by industry veterans, including BitMEX co-founder Arthur Hayes, who predicted that ZEC could reach $10,000; and Digital Currency Group founder Barry Silbert, who has repeatedly highlighted the latest news related to Zcash on X.

They jointly redefine the rise of ZEC not just as speculation, but as a symbolic event of privacy returning to a market dominated by compliance narratives and centralized channels. This tension has translated into trading. Investors seeking diversified investments beyond Bitcoin and Ethereum (both of which mostly consolidated this month) have turned to “ideological Crypto Assets” like Zcash.

Market Rotation: Capital Seeking New Narratives

(Source: CryptoQuant)

The surge of Zcash also reflects the rotation effect in the crypto market. When Bitcoin and Ethereum enter a consolidation phase, funds often flow into smaller market cap altcoins that have unique narratives. As a well-established privacy coin, Zcash has both historical significance and technological innovation, making it an ideal target for capital rotation.

Clarification of Halving Misunderstandings and Real Scarcity

Part of the excitement stems from a misunderstanding. Many traders view the upcoming halving event in November 2025 as a key bullish driver. However, the crypto analysis platform Coincodex points out that this claim is incorrect. The company states that the last halving for Zcash occurred in November 2024, and the next halving will not come until the end of 2028.

However, scarcity remains a core feature of Zcash. Similar to Bitcoin, ZEC halves its mining rewards every four years to control inflation and ensure the predictability of its issuance. Even when timing is misjudged, the notion of limited supply reinforces a broader theme: in a market driven by a desire for belief, ZEC is being repriced as a scarce asset with ideological significance.

Mumtaz pointed out: “The 8 years of work prove the fair distribution of mining, completely eliminating all tourists and greed.” This statement emphasizes that Zcash has no pre-mining, no ICO, and no large holdings by founders; all ZEC is fairly distributed through mining. This purity is extremely rare in today's crypto assets market, which is filled with pre-sales and insider trading.

Sustainability in Question: Regulatory Risks and Liquidity Challenges

However, the sustainability of ZEC's price surge remains uncertain. Aside from the price trend, ZEC's liquidity is still relatively low compared to major currencies, and many exchanges still restrict shielded transactions. Due to anti-money laundering obligations, institutional investors are unlikely to hold ZEC directly.

These structural challenges will not disappear in the short term. Global regulatory trends are moving towards stricter KYC (Know Your Customer) and AML (Anti-Money Laundering) requirements, which inherently conflict with privacy coins. The EU's MiCA regulations explicitly require Crypto Assets service providers to track the identities of both parties in a transaction, posing a direct threat to privacy coins.

However, the optimism in the retail industry and open-source community is growing. In this sense, the resilience of ZEC itself has become a form of credibility. The durability of Zcash is remarkable; it has survived regulatory crackdowns, market neglect, and technological competition, and is expected to experience a revival in 2025.