Zama Protocol surges 27% as whales and institutions accumulate ZAMA

Zama Protocol's ZAMA token surged 27% to $0.0517 on July 23, reaching a new all-time high as whales and institutions accumulated the privacy-focused token.

"Institutions need privacy to operate. This is why we're long $ZAMA and $ZEC. Zama unlocks private defi," Tushar Jain, co-founder and managing partner at Multicoin Capital, said.

Daily volume jumped more than 185% to $100 million, nearly matching the token's $110.4 million market cap. A single whale bought 28 million ZAMA from Kraken over two days, including a 14.26 million token transaction worth $571,000. Over 125 days, the wallet accumulated 98.18 million ZAMA valued at $3.93 million, according to Arkham Intelligence.

The rally faces headwinds from daily token unlocks releasing 4.06 million ZAMA worth $200,000 into circulation, with only 19.7% of the total 11.2 billion supply currently circulating. A post-breakout retracement could pull ZAMA to $0.045 or below, according to technical analysis.

Zama Protocol provides privacy infrastructure for blockchain applications, allowing institutions to execute transactions without exposing sensitive data on public ledgers. The protocol's token generation event occurred in early February 2026, and large unlocks of 1.98 billion ZAMA are scheduled once a year until 2030.

The token broke out of an ascending trend channel that it had respected since its February launch, with the cumulative volume delta showing more than 40 million ZAMA bought on Binance's spot market. Weekly gains exceeded 41%, and ZAMA trended at No. 1 on CoinGecko and No. 2 on CoinMarketCap by social traction.

Despite the rally, the token's holder count stands at just 7,640, suggesting limited retail participation relative to the price move. The liquidity-to-market-cap ratio of 2.51% indicates the token is safe for average retail investors, but institutional traders face execution challenges, per CoinMarketCap data.

The whale accumulation pattern mirrors a dynamic seen in other crypto assets where large holders increase positions while smaller participants exit. XRP, for example, saw wallets holding between 100,000 and 100 million tokens add 2.8% more coins over five weeks through late June, while small holders shed 5.2% of their holdings, according to Santiment. That divergence preceded an 8% rally in XRP above $1.16.

This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice.