The price of the privacy coin Zcash (ZEC) has surpassed $585 for the first time since November 2025. Since early May, the asset has increased by over 70%.

At the time of writing, the token is trading around $577 (+36.6% in the last 24 hours).

Source: TradingView.

ZEC's market capitalization has approached $10 billion, returning it to the top 15 largest cryptocurrencies.

Source: CoinMarketCap.

Multicoin's Accumulation

One of the main triggers for this rally was a comment from Tushar Jain, co-founder of Multicoin Capital. He stated that since February, the firm has built a "significant position" in ZEC, viewing Zcash as a "bet on the return of the crypto market to the ideals of cypherpunks."

1/ Multicoin has built a significant position in $ZEC since February.

Zcash is a return to the cypherpunk ideals crypto was founded on.

— Tushar Jain (@tushar_jain) May 5, 2026

According to Jain, the rise in political discussions surrounding capital control, wealth taxation, and the seizure of private assets is increasing demand for tools that combine censorship resistance with financial privacy.

"Bitcoin is censorship-resistant, but that doesn't stop the government from confiscating publicly known reserves through taxes or other mechanisms. Truly private and seizure-resistant assets are becoming increasingly sought after, and ZEC is the cleanest public way to express this bet," he wrote.

However, Jain did not disclose the exact amount invested in Zcash.

This statement marks a shift in Multicoin's position, which in 2019 described privacy as "a feature of valuable cryptocurrencies, not a standalone product." At that time, the firm argued that users did not need to sell Bitcoin or Ethereum for ZEC.

Other Factors Driving ZEC Upwards

Another positive factor was the listing of Zcash on the Robinhood platform at the end of April. The token was opened for spot trading, expanding access for retail investors.

Additionally, the cryptocurrency network continues to see structural growth in the supply of coins on fully private addresses (shielded supply). Over the past 12 months, the amount of ZEC in the Orchard pool has risen from 1.92 million to 4.55 million.

Nearly 30% of the circulating supply is now held in shielded wallets—an all-time high.

Source: ZecHub.

Further momentum for the narrative was provided by a new forecast from BitMEX co-founder Arthur Hayes. He suggests that in the long term, ZEC could reach 10% of Bitcoin's value.

Remember the $ZEC target is 10% of $BTC's price. We got a lot of pumping to go. pic.twitter.com/t0NXK72aok

— Arthur Hayes (@CryptoHayes) May 6, 2026

It’s worth noting that in January, all Zcash developers left the Electric Coin Company due to a conflict.

In February, the team announced the creation of a new structure called Zcash Open Development Lab and renamed the flagship wallet from Zashi to Zodl.