TLDR
- Zcash (ZEC) has surged approximately 8x in the past month, with its market cap climbing above $8 billion, surpassing altcoins like Sui and Hedera to reach 26th in the overall crypto market.
- Galaxy Digital’s research attributes the rally to improved user experience through Electric Coin Company’s Zashi wallet and NEAR’s intent layer, which simplifies shielded transactions and cross-chain swaps.
- For the first time in Zcash’s history, over 30% of supply now sits in shielded pools (roughly 4.9 million ZEC), with transparent supply falling by nearly 3 million ZEC this year, strengthening privacy features.
- Hyperliquid recently listed ZEC perpetuals, expanding trading access and pushing open interest to approximately $115 million as of late October, while futures OI reached an all-time high of $773.84 million.
- Technical indicators show ZEC trading above $490 with bulls targeting the next resistance level at $578, though some metrics suggest retail activity may be overheating.
Zcash has rallied approximately 8x over the past month, pushing its price above $490 and lifting its market capitalization past $8 billion. The surge has moved ZEC to 26th place in the overall cryptocurrency market, surpassing coins like Sui and Hedera.
Galaxy Digital published a research note on November 4, 2025, examining the reasons behind Zcash’s comeback. The firm points to changes in the coin’s technology and user experience that have made privacy features more accessible to everyday users.
The report highlights Electric Coin Company’s Zashi wallet, which launched in 2024 and received updates this year. The wallet simplifies the process of using Zcash’s shielded transactions, which encrypt transfer details on the blockchain.
Zashi integrates NEAR’s intent layer, allowing users to perform actions like swapping tokens or making payments without manually bridging between different blockchains. Users can express what they want to accomplish, and the system handles the technical routing in the background.
Galaxy’s research shows that for the first time in Zcash’s history, more than 30% of the coin’s supply now sits in shielded pools. The Orchard pool holds the majority of approximately 4.9 million shielded ZEC. Transparent supply has dropped by nearly 3 million ZEC this year, falling from about 14 million to roughly 11.4 million.
Shielded Pool Growth Strengthens Privacy
The movement of coins into shielded pools directly impacts Zcash’s core privacy function. A larger shielded pool makes it harder to trace individual transactions. Galaxy notes that a bigger anonymity set equals stronger privacy for all users of the shielded system.
Zcash uses zk-SNARK technology to enable private transactions. The protocol has undergone several upgrades since its launch, including Sapling in 2018, NU5/Orchard in 2022, and NU6 in 2024. These updates have improved the technical foundation that supports today’s user experience improvements.
The coin operates on a proof-of-work system with a 21 million coin cap and approximately 75-second block times. This structure resembles Bitcoin’s monetary policy but includes encrypted transfers as a core feature.
Market infrastructure has also expanded for Zcash. Hyperliquid listed ZEC perpetuals several weeks before Galaxy’s report, providing traders with leverage options and increasing liquidity. Open interest reached approximately $115 million as of October 30.
Trading Activity Reaches New Heights
Futures open interest for Zcash hit an all-time high of $773.84 million on Thursday, according to CoinGlass data. Rising open interest typically indicates new money entering the market, which can support continued price movement.
The long-to-short ratio for ZEC stood at 1.05 on Thursday, nearing its monthly high. A ratio above one shows that more traders are betting on price increases than decreases.
ZEC was trading above $490 at the time of reporting on Thursday, up more than 17% for the week. The coin found support around $372 on Tuesday before rallying more than 10% the following day.
Let's take this $ZEC chart as an example for educational purposes.
is following a very clear trend. It is clear to see how the price continues to follow the sloping trend line: every time it returns above it, buyers arrive and the upward movement resumes. This is a sign of… pic.twitter.com/GQV3BUN6bX
— EliZ (@eliz883) November 5, 2025
Technical indicators show the Relative Strength Index at 82 on the daily chart, above the overbought threshold of 70. The Moving Average Convergence Divergence indicator shows a bullish crossover with rising green histograms above the neutral level.
Bulls are targeting the 161.80% Fibonacci extension level at $578.53 as the next resistance point. If ZEC faces a correction, the $372 level could provide support.
Galaxy’s research notes that Zcash operates with roughly 100 to 120 full nodes, a smaller network compared to Bitcoin’s tens of thousands and Monero’s thousands. Verifying shielded transactions requires more computing resources than standard transparent transactions.
The report mentions Sean Bowe’s “Project Tachyon” as a planned upgrade aimed at improving throughput and sync times without introducing a new shielded protocol. This type of efficiency improvement could address current network constraints.
CryptoQuant data shows some metrics indicating retail activity may be overheating in both spot and futures markets. Futures OI reached $773.84 million on Thursday as ZEC continued trading above $490.
