Zcash News Today: Privacy vs. Compliance: Zcash's Surge Tests Regulatory Tolerance

Zcash (ZEC) has surged into the spotlight as the cryptocurrency's Puell Multiple—a metric tracking miner profitability—reaches an all-time high, signaling a potential boom for miners and a possible price rally. The privacy-focused coin has climbed over 1,270% year-to-date, hitting $600 for the first time since 2018 and securing a spot in the top 20 largest cryptocurrencies by market capitalization, now valued at nearly $10 billion, according to Coindesk. Analysts attribute this momentum to a confluence of technical upgrades, growing institutional interest, and renewed demand for privacy-centric assets, as discussed in a Bitcoinsistemi article.

The Puell Multiple, which measures the ratio of daily miner revenue to the 365-day moving average, has spiked to record levels, indicating that Zcash miners are achieving unprecedented annualized profitability, as noted in the Bitcoinsistemi article. Joao Wedson, a prominent cryptocurrency analyst, called the current climate a "historic period" for ZEC, noting that the Puell Multiple's surge aligns with a 33% price jump in recent weeks, which triggered $51 million in short liquidations—the third-highest on the market after Bitcoin and Ethereum, according to Coinotag. Wedson projected a bullish trajectory, suggesting ZEC could reach $1,650, though he cautioned investors to remain wary of the "high-risk zone" the asset now inhabits, the Bitcoinsistemi piece added.

Technical advancements are fueling Zcash's ascent. The Electric Coin Company (ECC), Zcash's primary developer, has rolled out Project Tachyon, a suite of upgrades aimed at boosting transaction throughput to thousands of private transactions per second, a point highlighted by Coindesk. Meanwhile, the Zashi wallet, now used by a growing user base, has made shielded transactions the default, pushing privacy from an optional feature to a standard practice, as reported in Coindesk's analysis. These developments have been complemented by institutional adoption, including Gemini's full integration of Zcash's Orchard protocol, which enables fully private transactions via Halo 2 cryptography, according to Blockonomi.

Zcash's market dynamics also highlight a shift in privacy-coin dominance. The asset has overtaken Monero (XMR) in market capitalization, a feat analysts link to Zcash's flexible privacy model, which allows users to toggle between transparent and shielded transactions—a feature that contrasts with Monero's fully opaque design, the Coindesk piece observed. This adaptability has attracted institutional investors, who can maintain compliance with anti-money laundering (AML) regulations while leveraging Zcash's privacy benefits, the same Coindesk analysis added.

Retail and institutional demand has further accelerated Zcash's rally. Robinhood's crypto revenue surged 300% in Q3, reflecting a broader retail revival in digital assets, according to an OpenPR report, while Kraken's adjusted revenue nearly doubled, signaling growing institutional participation, as Coindesk reported. On-chain data reveals over $74 million in net inflows to Zcash exchanges in a single day, suggesting institutional capital is rotating into the asset, per Benzinga. Additionally, the upcoming November 2025 halving—set to reduce block rewards by 50%—has intensified scarcity narratives, historically correlated with price increases, the Benzinga piece notes.

Despite the optimism, risks persist. Zcash's 14-day RSI reading of 83.38 indicates an "extremely overbought" condition, raising concerns about a potential pullback, the OpenPR report warned. Regulatory scrutiny of privacy tools, exemplified by a recent U.S. court case against a Bitcoin wallet developer, also looms over the sector, Coinotag reported. However, proponents argue that Zcash's cryptographic innovations, including zero-knowledge proofs and recursive verification via Halo 2, position it as a long-term contender in the evolving crypto landscape, Blockonomi added.

As Zcash navigates its historic surge, stakeholders are closely monitoring shielded transaction volumes and ecosystem developments. With miners reaping record profits and institutional adoption expanding, the privacy coin's trajectory could reshape perceptions of digital asset utility in an era of heightened regulatory and corporate oversight, the Bitcoinsistemi article concluded.

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