ZEC breaks above $260 as rally reignites to 7-year highs

ZCash (ZEC) remained the leader of privacy coins, expanding by another 53% for the past day. ZEC is now above $260, and is starting to affect other privacy coins. 

ZCash (ZEC) broke to a higher range, revisiting prices not seen since 2018. It added another 53% for the past day to over $260. ZEC remained the leader of the privacy coin narrative, driven by its older claims to solving the privacy issues of BTC. 

The recent price rally considers ZEC in the same class as BTC, possibly commanding a much higher price.

ZEC still faced resistance at $290, after clearing the $280 level briefly. The token has been taken up for derivative trading, causing the recent price rally as a short squeeze. The currently traded ZEC is locked on exchanges, and does not reflect immediate adoption and usage. 

ZEC revives privacy coin speculation

The ZEC rally spread over to other privacy assets, all performing similar rallies after years of relatively low activity. 

The bull cycle affected privacy coins, as the narrative returned after years of problems, mostly related to listings on exchanges. The entire privacy coin market expanded by over 17% on average for the past week, for a total valuation above $13B. 

Previously, XMR attempted to bring attention to the sector, but only achieved a solitary rally. XMR is now lagging, still at around $336. 

Over the course of 2025, privacy coins expanded more slowly, becoming the top narrative. The recent rally showed more undervalued assets attempted to catch up. 

ZEC unlocks privacy season for multiple assets

The effect of ZEC was linked to its promoters, as the token was mentioned by Naval Ravikant and top crypto influential accounts. 

The ZEC effect spilled over, boosting other privacy coins. Railgun (RAIL) extended its rally, growing by 116% in the past day to $5.12. 

Even ‘dinosaur coins’ are back to the forefront. Litecoin (LTC) broke above $130 once again, as the asset is now considered a privacy coin due to its MimbleWimble technology. LTC traded at around $129.25 ahead of the weekend. 

One of the previously forgotten privacy coins was DASH. The asset recovered to $43.81, the highest level in three months. The DASH rally is still relatively small, though the token added over 101% to its price overnight. Decred (DCR) had a smaller rally, adding around 13% overnight to $20.32. 

The privacy coin rally did not only boost older projects. Even recently added tokens like Veil Coin had vertical rallies to reach close to their price records. Unlike memes, privacy projects are more development-intensive, and new assets cannot be easily forked. 

Some of the tokens were also created with a small or fixed supply. However, the recent rally is yet to show if there will be organic usage for payments or transfers. Currently, most of the rapid price expansion is due to shifts in derivative trading. For ZEC, this means the rally may be exhausted, with a possible dip to $200 to liquidate long positions. 

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