Zcash has reappeared among the top 20 cryptocurrency tokens by market cap, trading above $600 for the first time in nearly seven years.
The privacy-focused token has gained more than 1,270% year over year, according to data from CoinGecko, bringing its market capitalization to just under $10 billion.
The rally coincides with renewed attention to privacy infrastructure and a wave of technical upgrades by Electric Coin Company (ECC), one of the network’s developers and maintainers.
The growing popularity of the Zashi wallet, combined with upcoming developments under Project Tachyon, has reignited both user activity and investor confidence, as CoinDesk Research noted in its Zcash report.
Daily trading volume has increased to over $1.8 billion, and liquidity has deepened on major venues such as Binance, Hyperliquid, and Bybit.
Futures markets have risen in tandem. Data from CoinGlass shows that Binance leads open interest with approximately $340 million, closely followed by Hyperliquid with $332 million, with Bybit in third place with $157 million. Long-short ratios are around parity (1.05-1.13), suggesting balanced market positioning rather than speculative mania.
Spot market metrics tell a complementary story. ZEC’s spot-to-futures ratio remains high, with approximately $801 million in 24-hour spot volume versus $4.5 billion in futures turnover, an indication that organic demand, rather than pure leverage, is driving the move this cycle.
Technically, the break above $500 represents a full retracement of local 2021 cycle highs.
If momentum holds, Zcash could mark one of the strongest annual performances of any large-cap crypto asset in 2025, making it not just a price recovery but a narrative reset.
