TLDR
- Zcash jumped 23% to around $1,369 as Bitcoin and other major cryptos also rose
- The Fed raised rates by 0.25%, but markets took it as a signal of limited further tightening
- Nearly 2.4 million ZEC voted in the NU7 governance poll, with 99.9% backing faster 25-second block times
- 98.9% of voters chose to keep Zcash’s Bitcoin-style halving schedule
- Paradigm co-founder Matt Huang publicly confirmed his firm holds ZEC and called it “a private complement to Bitcoin”
Zcash (ZEC) jumped 23% over 24 hours to trade near $1,369, outpacing most of the crypto market. Bitcoin edged up less than 1% to around $76,258 during the same period, while Solana gained nearly 3%.
The broader crypto market moved higher after the Federal Reserve raised its benchmark interest rate by 0.25%, bringing it to a range of 3.75% to 4%. Jeff Ko, chief analyst at ViaBTC, said the hike was “largely priced in” and that the Fed was not signaling an aggressive tightening cycle.
The Fed’s median projection placed the policy rate at 4.1% at the end of both 2026 and 2027, suggesting just one more possible hike this year. S&P 500 futures rose 0.6% and Nasdaq 100 futures gained 0.7% following the announcement.
Matt Huang, co-founder of crypto investment firm Paradigm, added fuel to the ZEC rally when he posted on X that his firm owns ZEC. Huang described Zcash as “a private complement to Bitcoin” and backed continued developer funding, while suggesting that coin-holder votes should be combined with other decision-making methods.
Governance Vote Delivers Strong Community Backing
The ZEC price move also followed the conclusion of Zcash’s NU7 community governance vote. Nearly 2.4 million ZEC participated out of about 3.6 million eligible tokens, well above the 1 million ZEC participation threshold.
Around 99.9% of participating ZEC voted to reduce block time from 75 seconds to 25 seconds. Faster blocks mean quicker transaction confirmations and better overall network performance.
On monetary policy, 98.9% of voters chose to keep the Bitcoin-style halving schedule intact. Mining rewards will continue to drop at set intervals rather than gradually.
$ZEC | THE $2,500 DREAM FACES A $500 TECHNICAL RISK
Zcash is displaying bearish momentum divergence near the $1,300 ATH resistance zone, raising the probability of a corrective phase.A sustained rejection below this supply area keeps the following downside levels in focus:… https://t.co/LaEuFkMPwq pic.twitter.com/gyb2B76rQV
— Crypto Patel (@CryptoPatel) September 16, 2026
Crypto analyst Crypto Patel flagged a risk on X, noting that ZEC was showing bearish momentum divergence near the $1,300 ATH resistance zone. Patel identified $800 as a first support level and $500 as a major demand zone, while stating that a confirmed hold above $1,300 would invalidate the bearish setup.
Ledger Integration and Next Steps
Zcash Labs announced it has received funding to add shielded pool support on Ledger hardware wallets. This would allow users to store ZEC privately using standard hardware wallet infrastructure.
The NU7 vote results do not trigger an immediate network upgrade. Approved features still need to be tested and implemented before deployment.
JUST IN: $ZEC breaks above $23B market cap.
The move comes from a recent governance vote, backing faster block times while maintaining its Bitcoin-style halving schedule. pic.twitter.com/PSscFEmlfG
— CoinGecko (@coingecko) September 17, 2026
CoinGecko noted on X that ZEC briefly broke above a $23 billion market cap following the vote results, connecting the move directly to the governance outcome and its Bitcoin-style halving schedule.
The 99.3% of voters who backed shipping NU7 as soon as possible also agreed that features not ready by September 30 could be excluded rather than delaying the full upgrade.
