Zcash (CRYPTO: ZEC) surged more than 8% to around $373 on Friday, hitting an eight-year high and surpassing Monero (CRYPTO: XMR) as the most valuable privacy-focused cryptocurrency.
Zcash Becomes Top Privacy Coin
The token's rally pushed its market capitalization to $6.2 billion, overtaking Monero and cementing its lead in the privacy coin sector.
ZEC price has gained more than 45% in the past week and over 800% since early October, defying the broader crypto market's consolidation phase.
Privacy coins like Zcash and Monero obscure sender, receiver, and transaction data, offering anonymity that Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) cannot.
As regulatory focus on blockchain transparency intensifies, investors appear to be returning to tokens that preserve transaction privacy.
Arthur Hayes Sparks $10,000 Prediction Buzz
The surge accelerated after BitMEX co-founder Arthur Hayes predicted that Zcash could rally to $10,000, calling it the next major rotation play.
ZEC climbed from $272 to $355 within hours of Hayes's remarks, amplifying bullish sentiment across markets.
Despite rising prices, on-chain data from Nansen shows whales have been trimming positions.
Whale wallets sold a net $702,000 in ZEC over the week, even as tokenholders increased by 63% to nearly 2,000, suggesting redistribution from large holders to retail buyers.
ZEC Chart Shows Strong Parabolic Channel
Zcash Price Analysis (Source: TradingView)
On the daily chart, ZEC trades within a steep ascending channel formed since early October.
Each pullback has found support near the 20-day exponential moving average (EMA) around $278, while the upper boundary now lies near $390.
The EMAs are stacked in bullish order — 20 EMA at $278, 50 EMA at $199, 100 EMA at $140, and 200 EMA at $97 — confirming a powerful uptrend.
RSI readings near 73 indicate overbought conditions, but previous cycles suggest this trend could continue after brief consolidations.
Analysts note that maintaining closes above $340–$350 could refresh momentum for another push toward $400–$420 in the short term.
ZEC's explosive rally has revived a coin that spent years dormant since its 2016 debut.
Outlook: Bulls Eye $480 But Cooling May Follow
Zcash has done what few majors could — surge eightfold while peers stayed flat.
Bitcoin, XRP (CRYPTO: XRP), and Solana (CRYPTO: SOL) spent October consolidating, yet ZEC broke into a new cycle.
The breakout through $350 marks the strongest privacy-coin rally since 2017, driven by rotation into decentralized anonymity assets.
If monthly closes hold above $300, analysts see the next target between $480 and $500, aligning with long-term Fibonacci retracement zones.
Failure to defend the $278 support level could invite a deeper pullback toward $200, where major EMAs converge and demand is expected to return.
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