Zcash hits new record for shielded ZEC coins in circulation

ZCash is staying in the spotlight, based on its trend of generating more shielded coins. Recently, a new record was set for ZEC locked in shielded pools. 

ZCash (ZEC) is extending its trend of locking more coins in shielded pools. In the past day, the supply of shielded coins expanded to a new all-time high, following more retail deposits. Another 959 ZEC were shielded, adding to the more rapid trend of adoption for privacy coins. 

The creator of ZCash noted the new record and the potential for locking even more ZEC in shielded pools. 

Another day, another ATH.

959 more ZEC shielded. https://t.co/n7u2XZNofS

— zooko🛡🦓🦓🦓 ⓩ (@zooko) October 21, 2025

Shielding more ZEC also means the buyers may not sell, instead using their coins for storage. ZEC is seen as a long-term proposition, an anonymous coin usable in the DeFi space. 

The depositors to shielded pools will most probably avoid selling their ZEC on centralized markets, instead using the coins on Solana in their bridged and shielded version. 

In the past three weeks, around 1M ZEC entered shielded pools, and has not been dumped on exchanges. Retail is also still shielding coins, instead of taking short-term profits. 

ZEC retains its price range

The recent interest in the ZCash project and its bridging to Solana is the main factor behind the ZEC price action. 

ZEC stayed solidly above $250, recently reclaiming the $270 level. The most bullish predictions is for the coin to attempt a recovery to $500. The coin has positioned itself as unique, despite the creation of more recent anonymous coins and tokens. ZEC is also one of the few assets to grow in BTC terms. In the past year, ZEC grew by 337% against BTC, going as high as 0.002 BTC.

ZCash retains a track record of one decade, and has claims to fulfilling one of the predictions of Satoshi Nakamoto for an anonymous version of Bitcoin. Additionally, the ZEC community boasts the millions of ZEC coins locked in the shielded pools as one of its positive trends. 

ZCash gets a boost from retail, whale buying

ZEC open interest remains relatively low compared to other older altcoins. On Binance, open interest is over $91M, out of a total of $210M. However, the most notable activity of ZEC is on the Near Protocol. 

ZCash is boosting new ways of using ZEC, as the coin has been recently removed from the Keystone wallet. The Zashi app is currently the main access point for trading and shielding ZEC.

Near Protocol swaps and access to the Zashi wallet means retail traders have a wider access to ZEC. Additionally, data shows a whale has swapped up to 50 BTC per day for ZEC coins. 

The rise of ZEC also showed not all privacy coins were the same. Most of the privacy assets, including new coins, took a hit during the latest market correction. 

Monero (XMR) still traded around $305, as its social media mindshare is still high. Railgun (RAIL) stalled its rally at around $2.51, as most other privacy coins took a downturn following the end of the altcoin market. 

Want your project in front of crypto’s top minds? Feature it in our next industry report, where data meets impact.