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Zcash has seen a huge price surge since Tuesday. Within a day, the privacy coin gained 40%. On the weekly trend, it’s posting a price gain of 70%. At the time of writing, ZEC is trading at $570. The latest gains follow a controversial announcement by the investment firm Multicoin Capital.
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Zcash price explosion: Why ZEC is up 70% right now
Over the past few days, the privacy coin Zcash (ZEC) has seen a massive price surge. The cryptocurrency rose so sharply that it overtook Monero as the largest privacy coin. At the time of writing, Zcash ranks 13th among all cryptocurrencies, with a market cap of $9.5 billion.
Zcash drew especially strong attention on Wednesday. From Tuesday to Wednesday, the cryptocurrency managed to deliver a full 40% price gain. ZEC climbed to $603. At the time of writing, the asset saw a mild pullback and is now trading at $570.
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On the weekly trend, Zcash is still posting substantial gains. The cryptocurrency is still up a full 70% here. On the weekly trend, that puts the privacy coin in third place among the top 100.
The investment firm Multicoin Capital is considered chiefly responsible for the rapid price move. Its co-founder Tushar Jain announced on Tuesday a major investment that Multicoin began in February.
“Since February, Multicoin has built a significant position in ZEC. Zcash is a return to the cypherpunk ideals that gave rise to crypto,” Jain wrote.
Multicoin sees privacy coins as an important trend that will continue to grow over the coming years. He says the reason is authorities’ growing appetite for control and surveillance. Jain cites looming wealth taxes in California as an example, but similar developments can be seen internationally as well.
To protect themselves, users will increasingly turn to confidential cryptocurrencies. Multicoin chose Zcash for its investment. He didn’t explain why the choice fell on this specific project.
“The asset seizures planned in California are a warning signal. As the political trend toward seizing private wealth continues to grow, individuals and institutions will increasingly look for private assets to hedge themselves.”
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Why Bitcoin doesn’t sufficiently protect investors from state actors
Jain criticized that Bitcoin, as the largest cryptocurrency, is not sufficiently able to protect users from unscrupulous state actors. While BTC can’t simply be seized digitally, the transparency of its blockchain allows surveillance and spying.
Authorities then typically put pressure on service providers, who are then effectively used as assistants to confiscate the funds of unwanted individuals. Zcash enables encrypted transactions, addressing this issue.
“Bitcoin is censorship-resistant—no one can freeze BTC or stop you from using it. But that doesn’t stop the state from seizing known holdings via wealth taxes,” Jain writes.
“We believe that truly private assets that are resistant to censorship and confiscation show clear product–market fit and that demand is growing. We believe ZEC is the cleanest way to express this thesis in public markets,” he concludes.
Reactions from X users are very mixed. There are a few supporters, but many commentators criticize the investment as lacking true conviction ideologically. Supporters of the rival privacy coin Monero in particular are negative.
