jakiro
Author:Cathy
While the entire crypto market is still debating whether Bitcoin can break new highs, an “old face” quietly staged the return of the king.
In early October 2025, the price of Zcash (ZEC) soared by more than 242% in just two weeks, and reached an astonishing 570% increase in one month.ZThe price of EC broke through US$230 for the first time since 2022, reaching a maximum of more than US$285, and its market value once exceeded US$4 billion..
This is not an ordinary market pull, but a strong return of the grand narrative about “privacy” in the encryption world..What is even more noteworthy is that the entire anonymous coin sector has been ignited, with the total market value increasing by 17.4% in a week, reaching $12.2 billion.So,What exactly triggered this “privacy renaissance”?
01Multiple forces converge to detonate Zcash
Zcash’s counterattack was not caused by a single factor, but by a chemical reaction caused by the intersection of several forces.
Admission to Wall Street
It all started when asset management giant Grayscale announced the launch of the Zcash Trust Fund.Grayscale Trust is like a “cryptocurrency buying package” tailored for Wall Street institutional investors,Qualified investors with large amounts of money but subject to compliance restrictions are allowed to hold ZEC indirectly by purchasing trust shares without having to worry about complex issues such as private key management and wallet security.
The signaling significance of this news is far greater than its direct capital inflow..It declares to the entire market: “Wall Street is paying attention to Zcash and the red carpet has been rolled out for it.“The expected entry of institutional capital became the first fire that ignited the price of ZEC.
Reverse stimulus from regulatory tightening
A seemingly contradictory phenomenon is:Increasingly tightening global regulation has become fuel for the rise of privacy coins.
At that time, the European Union was intensely discussing the draft “Chat Control” bill, which proposed using artificial intelligence to monitor users’ private information on a large scale.At the same time, new EU anti-money laundering (AML) regulations are also on the horizon, with plans to ban the use of anonymous crypto accounts and anonymous coins from 2027.
This sounds like a bearish move, but the market has given a completely opposite interpretation.Former White House adviser Thor Torrens put it succinctly: “Surveillance and censorship are not waning but intensifying.Privacy will only become more valuable.” It’s a “bad news is good news” logic—the tighter the regulations, the greater the need to escape them.
Strong endorsement from KOL
Venture capitalist Naval Ravikant posted a viral tweet on social media: “Bitcoin is insurance against fiat currency, Zcash is insurance against Bitcoin.” This sentence instantly hit the screen, positioning Zcash as an essential tool for hedging the privacy risks of Bitcoin’s transparent ledger.
Mert Mumtaz, CEO of Helius Labs, described a crypto world without privacy as “Dystopian nightmare”, and praised Zcash “Designed for stronger privacy and scale” and even gave a price prediction of $1,000.
The platforms of these heavyweights have completely reversed Zcash’s sentiment indicators on social media., making it turn from negative to positive for the first time in months.A perfect storm co-directed by institutions, regulators, laws and KOLs formed.
02Why is Monero “falling behind”?
In this collective carnival of anonymous coins, one detail is particularly eye-catching:The former king, Monero (XMR), performed mediocrely, with a weekly increase of -1.94%..Behind this is a “war” about technical routes, security trust and market narratives.A Tale of Two Cities“.
A smart choice for Zcash: an optional privacy model
The core technology of Zcash is “zk-SNARKs” (zero-knowledge proof),It allows transactions to be verified with full encryption.butThe most “smart” design of Zcash is its “optional privacy“Model–Users can freely choose to conduct completely transparent transactions or conduct completely anonymous “shielded transactions”.
This flexibility is interpreted by the market as a potential path to regulatory compliance.For an organization like Grayscale,An anonymous coin that can choose to be “transparent” is obviously more acceptable than a “black box” in which all transactions are forced to be anonymous.Coupled with the fact that the Electric Coin Company (ECC) team behind it has been promoting the ease of use of the wallet and plans to move to Proof of Stake (PoS) in the future to enhance interoperability, Zcash presents a positive, professional and future-embracing image to the market.
Monero’s dilemma: A crisis of trust that shakes the foundations
While Zcash was making great progress, Monero was caught in a serious security crisis.
In August 2025, a mining pool named Qubic claimed to have successfully launched a “51% attack” on the Monero network and resulted in a “blockchain reorganization” of 6 blocks.
Although some researchers later pointed out that this was more like a public relations stunt using a “selfish mining” strategy than a true 51% network control, the damage had been done.This incident exposed possible centralization risks in Monero’s network computing power, shaking its foundation as the most secure anonymous currency.
When investors choose between two privacy coins, one is Zcash, which has just received Wall Street endorsement and is gaining momentum, and the other is Monero, which is dealing with a network security crisis. Which side will the balance of capital lean toward? The answer is self-evident..
03The resurgence of the entire anonymous circuit
The explosion of Zcash is just the beginning.After capital poured into ZEC, it began to look for the next “potential stock” in the sector.So we see that some anonymous projects with smaller market capitalization and more elasticity have also seen amazing increases in the past month: Railgun (RAIL) rose by 245%, and PIVX rose by 42%.Even the old privacy coin Dash (DASH) has achieved a 43% weekly increase and a 90% monthly increase.
This clearly shows that the market is undergoing a thematic capital rotation.When “large-cap stocks” like Bitcoin enter a period of correction, smart money begins to look for new narratives with high growth potential, and “privacy” clearly becomes the hottest choice at the time..
From the perspective of technical characteristics, mainstream anonymous coins have their own advantages and disadvantages:Zcash has gained the strongest institutional appeal with its zero-knowledge proof technology and optional privacy model; Monero insists on default privacy and asset fungibility; Dash emphasizes fast transaction speed and low fees.But in this round of market conditions, Zcash, which has regulatory flexibility and institutional recognition, clearly has the upper hand.
04summary
This incident is more like a“Institutional Grade Privacy”Successful road show of concept.It tells us that projects like Zcash, which have cutting-edge technology, provide compliance options, and are recognized by institutions, may continue to be the first choice for mainstream capital to enter the anonymous track.Projects like Monero that adhere to the “hard-core” privacy route must solve their own security and decentralization challenges.
For each of us in the crypto world, this “privacy renaissance” raises a profound question:In a digital age of increasing transparency and surveillance, how much are we willing to pay to protect our financial privacy?
The market in the fall of 2025 may be just the first public market pricing of this issue.When Wall Street begins to roll out the red carpet for privacy assets, it may be telling us:Privacy has never been more valuable than it is today.And this revaluation has just begun..
