Tuesday saw an unexpected turn for bearish positions in Zcash (ZEC), a token that had been quietly accumulated by institutional investors. The asset soared nearly 30% within 24 hours, reaching $543 during Asia’s trading hours and marking its weekly gain at 60% alongside a 30-day return of over 110%, according to CoinGecko data.
Trading volume exceeded $1.3 billion in the previous day, leading to approximately $62 million in total liquidations affecting around 5,000 traders. Shorts faced nearly $60 million in losses, while longs incurred just above $3 million in losses, making ZEC futures the second-highest in liquidations behind bitcoin.
The surge was sparked by Multicoin Capital’s revelation of building a substantial position in ZEC since February. Tushar Jain, a partner at the fund, highlighted on X that Zcash aligns with cypherpunk ideals, citing California’s wealth seizure initiatives as precursors to broader government scrutiny over private assets.
California Initiative 25-0024 proposes a one-time 5% tax on residents with net worth exceeding $1 billion, including unrealized gains, aiming to raise about $100 billion if approved. Jain argued that while bitcoin offers transaction transparency, ZEC’s shielded pool conceals balances from blockchain explorers, enhancing its appeal for private asset management.
Currently, around 30% of all circulating ZEC—approximately 5 million out of 16.7 million coins—are in shielded addresses, a significant increase from 8% at the start of 2024, as reported by CoinDesk Research in March. The shielded pool employs zero-knowledge cryptography to obscure transaction details such as sender, recipient, and amount.
Public ZEC transactions have remained steady at about 8,500 per day, but actual activity is occurring within the shielded pool, which is intentionally hidden from standard transaction counters. CoinDesk Research noted in March that Zcash achieved ‘encryption supremacy’ due to AI tools de-anonymizing transparent blockchain users, quantum computing threats to current crypto wallets, and quarterly trading volumes surpassing $100 billion.
ZEC is currently priced at $543, reflecting a year-to-date increase of over 1,400%. Although it remains below its November 2025 peak near $750, there’s potential for further growth if demand persists. The next resistance zone is between $600 and $650, where ZEC consolidated through late 2025.
Observers will now monitor the expansion of the shielded pool alongside price movements. Previous rallies saw shielded supply lagging behind, suggesting speculative interest. This current rally coincides with a record-high shielded supply, indicating more genuine adoption.