Privacy coin Zcash (ZEC) has continued its outperformance against the broader crypto market, posting another 9% gain in the last 24 hours to surge past $1,600 — a level last seen ten years ago in 2016, the year the privacy-focused network went live. The milestone comes as institutional demand remains elevated, with Europe's first Zcash exchange-traded product (ETP) now live on Euronext Paris and Amsterdam. The asset now ranks among the top ten cryptocurrencies by market capitalization.

Zcash's return to prominence also shines a light on the privacy-coin category itself. The network uses zero-knowledge proofs to allow users to shield transaction details, a capability that has long distinguished it from transparent blockchains such as Bitcoin.

ZEC Hits a 10-Year High on a Record Rally

On the one-year chart, ZEC has delivered a record rally, gaining a staggering 2,850% — from $55 to above $1,600 — according to CoinGecko data. The performance has clearly outpaced Bitcoin (BTC) and the entire altcoin market. With the surge, ZCash's market capitalization has climbed to $27.5 billion.

On-chain data provider LookonChain reported that, as the ZEC price pushes past $1,600, one trader on Aster DEX has recorded an unrealized return of more than 15x on a leveraged ZEC long position. The trader, identified by wallet address 0xE34E, opened a 50x long worth $224,000 for 140 ZEC. The position currently shows an unrealized profit of $70,700, representing a 1,581% return.

Data shared by analyst Crypto Patel indicates that the ZCash price rally could continue further, with a move toward $1,872 following the breakout from a symmetrical triangle pattern on the chart. The analyst cautioned that investors need to remain cautious while building new positions.

Broader Participation Powers the Advance

Crypto analyst Ardi stated that ZEC's continued strength, even after recent pullbacks, is being driven by broader participation from different trader groups. Mid-sized trades — transactions between $10,000 and $100,000 — continue to reach new highs, while retail-sized trades below $10,000 and institutional-sized trades between $100,000 and $10 million are also increasing their buying activity.

According to Ardi, mid-sized participants had previously driven most of the rally while other groups remained on the sidelines, and that dynamic has now shifted. Trade-size cohort data of this kind is a widely used lens for assessing whether a rally is broad-based or concentrated in a single group of market participants.

On the mining side, ZCash mining has become more profitable than Bitcoin mining — a notable shift in an industry where Bitcoin has long served as the profitability benchmark — prompting strong moves from miners. Cypherpunk reported the first figures from its Zcash mining operation, producing 3,023 ZEC over a 14-day period. The company said it sold none of the mined ZEC, with the entire amount added to its treasury — a shift from solely acquiring Zcash to also mining and retaining the cryptocurrency, echoing the corporate treasury-accumulation strategies popularized by Bitcoin holders.

Europe Gets Its First Zcash ETP

Asset manager 21Shares has launched Europe's first exchange-traded product tied to Zcash, listing the physically backed ETP on Euronext Paris and Euronext Amsterdam. The listing gives European investors regulated, exchange-traded access to ZEC for the first time. The launch also includes a physically backed product tracking ETHFI, the governance token of Etherfi. Both ETPs carry an annual management fee of 2.5% provide regulated exposure through traditional brokerage accounts, without requiring investors to take direct custody of the underlying tokens.

The European debut follows Grayscale's introduction of its spot Zcash ETF on NYSE Arca in the United States. Since launching, the product has accumulated more than $949 million in assets under management (AUM), holding 623,316.53 ZEC. The ZEC ETF has 7,789,300 shares outstanding and averages around 638,000 shares in daily trading volume. With regulated ZEC products now available on both sides of the Atlantic, early adoption figures for the new European listings — and whether the US ETF continues to build on its $949 million AUM — stand out as the near-term data points for observers to track.

This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute financial or investment advice. Cryptocurrency, leveraged trading and exchange-traded crypto products involve substantial risk.

Source: The Market Periodical