Zcash (ZEC) makes a spectacular comeback: from "historical relic" to the star of 2025

Zcash (ZEC) – once regarded as a remnant of the “cypherpunk” era in the history of crypto – has now unexpectedly become the most impressive comeback story of 2025.

According to data from CoinPhoton, Zcash has increased by more than 380% in just one month, reaching a level of 370 USD, the highest in three years, before slightly adjusting to around 350 USD. The market capitalization of the project currently stands at 5.8 billion USD, bringing this privacy coin back into the top 25 leading cryptos.

The Return of Philosophy and Technology

Launched in 2016 as a fork of Bitcoin, Zcash retains the limited supply mechanism, PoW consensus, and periodic halving, but adds zero-knowledge proofs technology – allowing transaction verification without revealing the identity of the sender, receiver, or the amount transferred.

In the context where most blockchains make all transactions public, Zcash provides a feeling of being a true “digital cash”: untraceable, fungible, and self-sovereign.

Mert Mumtaz, CEO of Helius Labs, stated:

“Calling ZEC 'encrypted Bitcoin' makes perfect sense — same economic model, same store of value role, but private.”

After being removed from exchanges due to anonymity factors, Zcash gradually fell into obscurity like Monero or Dash. However, recently, this coin has unexpectedly become the center of attention in the retail investment community, coinciding with its 9th anniversary.

When Privacy Returns as an Investment Value

The rise of ZEC is occurring against the backdrop of increasingly stringent global financial oversight: the UK is implementing Digital ID, the EU is adopting MiCA regulations on privacy, while AI transaction tracing tools are becoming more prevalent.

These changes have rekindled the debate about the meaning of financial privacy in the programmable blockchain era. And for many investors, it is indeed an opportunity.

“Crypto without privacy is no longer crypto,” Mumtaz said, praising the “revival” of the development community and the new support from exchanges.

This idea is supported by major figures such as Arthur Hayes, co-founder of BitMEX – who predicts that ZEC could reach 10,000 USD, and Barry Silbert, founder of Digital Currency Group – who frequently shares news about Zcash on X.

As a result, the rise of ZEC is not just speculative, but also symbolic: the return of privacy in the crypto world that is being dominated by regulation and centralization.

Halving or belief?

Many investors believe that the price increase comes from the expectation of the halving in November 2025. However, the analysis platform Coincodex confirms that the most recent halving occurred in November 2024, and the next one will not be until 2028.

Nonetheless, the scarcity factor remains at the core of the Zcash story. Like Bitcoin, the periodic reduction of mining rewards reinforces confidence in the controlled issuance model and long-term value.

At the same time, the search volume for “Zcash” on Google reached its highest level in 5 years, equivalent to the peak period of the 2021 bull cycle — a common sign before larger-scale growth.

Search for Zcash (Source: Google Trend)## The real motivation: evolving technology

Behind the price surge is a significant technical advancement. The project has just launched the public alpha version of the new zero-knowledge architecture, which enhances the speed of anonymous transactions and improves wallet usability.

This is seen as a breakthrough, rekindling excitement in the field of cryptography, viewing Zcash as a “living laboratory” for the practical application of digital privacy.

Is the uptrend sustainable?

Despite the strong price recovery, ZEC still faces liquidity constraints and restrictions on anonymous trading on many exchanges. Institutional investors, bound by AML regulations, find it difficult to hold directly.

However, positive signals are emerging:

• GitHub data shows consistent growth in development activities.
• The hash rate is becoming increasingly distributed, reinforcing decentralization.
• The trading volume of spot transactions has increased significantly in the mid-cap asset group.

*The bubble map of Zcash spot trading volume (Source: CryptoQuant)*Even skeptics admit: few projects since 2016 have maintained the original consensus model, an active development team, and a real ecosystem like Zcash.

Mumtaz concluded:

“Eight years of fair PoW mining have eliminated all short-term greed — and the rest are those who truly believe in the mission.”

Thạch Sanh