Zcash climbs 1,190% in a year as Forbes inclusion and supply squeeze fuel rally

Zcash's 1,190% rally over the past year has more structural support than previous pumps, but a patched security flaw and looming European privacy-coin ban test whether the gains can hold.

Zcash rose about 1,190% over the past year to trade near $545, earning a spot on Forbes' 2026 top 10 list of best cryptocurrencies to buy alongside Bitcoin, Ethereum and Hyperliquid. The privacy token gained roughly 17% in the week through July 12, according to CoinGecko data.

"Zcash's rally is being driven by a genuine supply squeeze rather than speculative froth," Jason Wu, an on-chain analyst, said. "Record shielded supply and the November halving have pulled a significant portion of circulating coins out of the liquid market."

On-chain supply data supports the thesis. By early June, shielded addresses held about 5.1 million ZEC — close to one-third of all coins in existence, per Zcash blockchain data. Those holdings sit outside the liquid market. The November 2024 halving compounded the effect, cutting the block reward to 1.5625 ZEC from 3.125 ZEC and slowing new issuance. Regulatory pressure also eased: the Zcash Foundation said in January that the SEC closed a two-year investigation into crypto asset offerings without enforcement action, removing a legal overhang that had followed a 2023 subpoena.

The question is whether privacy demand can outlast the regulation it invites. In late May, a researcher discovered a critical flaw in Zcash's Orchard shielded pool that had gone undetected for roughly four years and could theoretically have minted counterfeit ZEC. Electric Coin Company and the Zcash Foundation patched it through an emergency hard fork within days, and network accounting showed no fake coins were created. Still, ZEC fell about 38% on the news, and on-chain data flagged lingering stress. Gemini's Winklevoss twins later backed formal verification — a math-based check designed to make such bugs impossible.

Europe poses the clearest regulatory threat. Under the European Union's Markets in Crypto-Assets regulation, platforms cannot list assets with built-in anonymity features. That provision takes effect in 2027, and some exchanges have already dropped privacy coins. Zcash still trades far below its 2016 record high, and Forbes flagged volatility as a core weakness when selecting the token for its top 10 list. "Given crypto's higher volatility, we chose a more conservative cutoff: screening only for projects with a market cap of at least $5 billion," Forbes stated.

The rally has firmer footing than past Zcash pumps — a shrinking liquid supply, slower issuance and reduced regulatory overhang are structural supports, not hype. But the Orchard scare showed how fast confidence can crack, and the MiCA deadline creates a known risk that will test whether privacy-focused assets can sustain institutional interest. Zcash's longer-term price outlook now turns on a single question: can demand for private transactions outlast the regulatory pushback it generates?

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