Key facts
- Zcash (ZEC) reached $1,388 following the NU7 sentiment polls.
- Coinholders voted 98.9% to keep Bitcoin-style halvings.
- The privacy coin has tripled since July's Ironwood upgrade.
- ZEC is up more than 2,500% over the past year.
- The token is currently trading at $1,368, up 10.9% on the day.
- Zcash is the ninth-largest asset by market cap at $22.9 billion.
Zcash (ZEC) surged to $1,388 on Thursday after its community voted to maintain Bitcoin-style halvings as part of the network's NU7 upgrade. The privacy coin has experienced a significant price rally, tripling since the Ironwood upgrade in July and increasing by over 2,500% in the past year.
The NU7 upgrade involved five questions put to coinholders, with a 66% turnout from eligible spendable shielded ZEC. The results, published on Sunday, showed 98.9% of voters favored preserving Bitcoin-style halvings over smooth issuance. Other approved changes include faster 25-second blocks, immediate deprecation of the legacy Sprout pool, and a reduced scope for the upgrade to include only what is ready by September 30.
A point of contention was the start date for the network sustainability mechanism to recycle fees back to miners. Coinholders selected February 2031 by 96.6%, a more conservative approach than the advisory panels' preference for "as soon as possible." Several entities, including Shielded Labs, Project Tachyon, ZODL, the Zcash Foundation, and Valar Group, have stated their alignment with the February 2031 date.
Analysts attribute Zcash's recent performance to several factors. Tim Sun, senior researcher at HashKey, noted that the market is "redefining the value of privacy," with Zcash leading this narrative. He also pointed to the launch of Grayscale's Zcash ETF last month, which has provided institutional investors with a new avenue to access the asset and "alleviated regulatory concerns." Roxana Nasoi, a core contributor at privacy network Logos, highlighted the appeal of privacy in making users less of a target, a distinction that has become more relevant as AI reduces the cost of identifying on-chain behaviors. Joe Andrews, CEO of Aztec Labs, stated that the "world is waking up to the need for on-chain privacy," citing Zcash's recent bug fixes, post-quantum upgrades, and price surge as evidence.
Zcash's Ironwood upgrade in July addressed a four-year-old flaw that could have led to the minting of counterfeit ZEC. The upgrade contained the counterfeit coins in a retired pool and introduced quantum-resistant transaction records. The disclosure of the flaw had previously sent the price down 38%.