Zcash Surges to Eight Year High and Overtakes Monero as Leading Privacy Cryptocurrency

According to Cointelegraph, Zcash reached an eight-year price peak of $388 on Friday, October 25, 2025. The privacy-focused cryptocurrency rose 7.6% in 24 hours based on CoinMarketCap data. ZEC achieved a market capitalization of $6.2 billion at the time of reporting.

The rally allowed Zcash to overtake Monero as the most valuable privacy cryptocurrency by market cap. ZEC posted a 45% weekly gain despite broader crypto market weakness. The surge followed failed tariff negotiations between the United States and China on Thursday.

BitMEX co-founder Arthur Hayes predicted ZEC could reach $10,000 days before the price surge. Hayes made his prediction on Sunday, after which Zcash rallied from $272 to $355 within hours. Token holder counts increased 63% to 1,968 addresses over the past week. However, whale wallets sold a net $702,000 in ZEC tokens according to Nansen data.

Growing Demand for Financial Privacy Tools

Privacy-focused cryptocurrencies gained traction as investors sought anonymity features amid increased regulatory oversight. FXStreet reports that privacy coins maintained gains while broader markets declined following a $14 billion Bitcoin seizure by the US Department of Justice. Japan's moves to ban crypto-related insider trading also boosted interest in privacy assets.

Privacy tokens use advanced cryptography to obscure transaction details. Zcash employs zero-knowledge proofs called zk-SNARKs to enable private transactions. These features allow users to hide sender, receiver, and transaction amounts. Bitcoin transactions remain traceable on public ledgers, while privacy coins mask wallet addresses and payment histories.

We reported that institutional adoption accelerated throughout 2025, with crypto millionaires increasing 40% to 241,700 people globally. Traditional financial institutions now view cryptocurrency as a legitimate asset class. Corporate holdings and tokenized assets both grew substantially in 2025. This institutional interest has created demand for various cryptocurrency categories, including privacy-focused tokens.

Privacy Coins Face Regulatory Pressure Despite Market Performance

Privacy cryptocurrencies continue gaining market value while facing mounting regulatory challenges worldwide. Blockhead analysis shows only two crypto sectors generated profits in the past month: privacy coins and exchange tokens. Zcash, Dash, and Monero produced gains of 405%, 110%, and 6% respectively over 30 days.

Centralized exchanges have removed privacy coins from trading platforms due to compliance concerns. Major platforms including Kraken, Binance, and OKX delisted Monero in jurisdictions like the European Union and South Korea. Monero faced 60 delistings in 2024 alone, representing a sixfold increase from previous years.

The regulatory environment remains uncertain for privacy-focused assets. Financial Action Task Force guidelines require exchanges to collect customer information for transfers. Privacy coins make this compliance difficult by design. South Korea and Japan have banned privacy coin listings on exchanges. European Union regulations may lead to additional restrictions on privacy-preserving technologies.

Despite regulatory headwinds, search volume for privacy cryptocurrencies reached record levels in October 2025. On-chain data shows increased activity across privacy tokens. Zcash shielded pool adoption grew with nearly 30% of total supply now anonymized. Market observers note growing public awareness of financial privacy issues is driving demand for these specialized assets.