Zcash News Today: "Privacy and Speed Drive Crypto's New Safeguards Amid Shutdown Uncertainty"

The U.S. government shutdown, now in its 38th day, has triggered widespread economic and operational disruptions, with estimates suggesting a weekly economic loss of $7 billion to $16 billionGovernment shutdown costing the economy billions of dollars each week. As the shutdown nears its end, investors are increasingly turning to alternative assets, including cryptocurrencies, to hedge against macroeconomic uncertainty. Among the altcoins gaining traction, Zcash (ZEC), SOON (SOON), and others are emerging as key players in a market searching for stability amid volatility.

Zcash (ZEC) has surged to the top 20 cryptocurrencies by market capitalization, hitting a three-year high of $600Zcash Breaks into Top-20 Crypto List, Hits $600 For First Time Since 2018. The privacy-focused coin's technical indicators suggest a strong recovery, with its price breaking above $500-a-full retracement of its 2021 cycle. On-chain data reveals a high spot-to-futures ratio ($801 million in spot volume vs. $4.5 billion in futures turnover), signaling organic demand rather than speculative leverage. Analysts attribute ZEC's performance to its growing adoption of shielded transactions, which now account for 20–25% of circulating ZEC and 30% of transactions. The Zashi wallet's default privacy settings and Project Tachyon's throughput upgrades have further solidified Zcash's position as the largest privacy-focused cryptocurrency by market shareZcash Breaks into Top-20 Crypto List, Hits $600 For First Time Since 2018.

SOON, a Solana Virtual Machine (SVM)-based Layer 2 network token, has seen a meteoric 337% price increase in a single day, reaching an all-time high of $3What is SOON Crypto? SOON Price Skyrockets +337%. The token's rapid ascent is driven by its modular architecture, which enables scalable private transactions and interoperability with ecosystems like Ethereum and TON. Recent developments, including the integration of Jump Crypto's Firedance client and a permissionless asset-launch experiment, have boosted SOON's throughput to 80,000 transactions per second-eight times faster than Solana's 400ms blocktime. With 330 million of its 980 million total supply in circulation, SOON's utility in staking, governance, and airdrops has attracted speculative and institutional interest, particularly as Solana-linked projects dominate 2025's crypto narrativeWhat is SOON Crypto? SOON Price Skyrockets +337%.

The prolonged shutdown has exacerbated cybersecurity vulnerabilities, with agencies like the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) recently suffering a breach attributed to a "suspected foreign actor"The Government Shutdown Is a Ticking Cybersecurity Time Bomb. Experts warn that gaps in system patching and monitoring during the shutdown could leave federal networks exposed, creating long-term risks for digital infrastructure. While cloud migration has provided a baseline of security, the lack of personnel to address moderate-severity vulnerabilities has raised public concerns. This environment has fueled demand for privacy-focused assets like Zcash and scalable solutions like SOON, as investors seek to mitigate risks tied to both macroeconomic instability and digital threatsThe Government Shutdown Is a Ticking Cybersecurity Time Bomb.

As the government prepares to reopen, the interplay between economic recovery and crypto adoption will likely shape the next phase of market dynamics. For now, Zcash and SOON stand out as altcoins poised to capitalize on a landscape where privacy, scalability, and resilience are paramount.

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