While the crypto market debated whether Bitcoin could reach new highs, a familiar face quietly staged a dramatic comeback. In early October 2025, Zcash (ZEC) saw its price surge by over 242% in just two weeks and a staggering 570% within a month. ZEC's price surpassed $230 for the first time since 2022, reaching a high of over $285, with its market capitalization briefly exceeding $4 billion. This wasn't just an ordinary market rally, but rather the powerful comeback of a grand narrative about "privacy" in the crypto world. More notably, the entire anonymous coin sector was ignited, with its total market capitalization increasing by 17.4% in a week to $12.2 billion. So, what exactly sparked this "privacy resurgence"? The convergence of multiple forces ignited Zcash. Zcash's comeback wasn't the result of a single factor, but rather the chemical reaction of several forces. It all started when asset management giant Grayscale announced the launch of the Zcash Trust. The Grayscale Trust is like a "cryptocurrency purchase package" tailored for Wall Street institutional investors. It allows accredited investors with significant capital but regulatory constraints to indirectly own ZEC by purchasing trust shares, without having to worry about complex issues like private key management and wallet security. This news signal carries far more weight than the direct inflow of funds. It announced to the entire market: "Wall Street is paying attention to Zcash and has already rolled out the red carpet for it." The expectation of institutional capital entering the market became the first spark that ignited the price of ZEC. A seemingly paradoxical phenomenon: Tightening global regulation has actually fueled the rise of privacy coins. At the time, the European Union was intensely debating a draft "Chat Control" bill that proposed the use of artificial intelligence to monitor users' private information on a large scale. Simultaneously, the EU's new Anti-Money Laundering (AML) regulations were on the verge of being implemented, planning to ban the use of anonymous crypto accounts and privacy coins starting in 2027. This sounds like bad news, but the market has interpreted it quite differently. Former White House adviser Thor Torrens aptly pointed out, "Surveillance and censorship are not weakening, but intensifying. Privacy is only becoming more valuable." This is a "bad news is good news" logic—the stricter the regulation, the stronger the desire to escape it. Strong endorsement from KOLs: Venture capitalist Naval Ravikant posted a viral tweet on social media: "Bitcoin is insurance against fiat currency, Zcash is insurance against Bitcoin." This statement instantly went viral, positioning Zcash as an essential tool for hedging the privacy risks of Bitcoin's transparent ledger. Helius Labs CEO Mert Mumtaz described a crypto world without privacy as a "dystopian nightmare" and praised Zcash's "stronger privacy and scalability design," even predicting a price of $1,000. The endorsements of these heavyweights completely reversed Zcash's sentiment on social media, turning it positive for the first time in months. A perfect storm orchestrated by institutions, regulators, legal professionals, and influencers (KOLs) has thus formed. Why did Monero fall behind? Amidst this collective frenzy for privacy-focused coins, one detail stands out: Monero (XMR), once the king, performed mediocrely, with a weekly gain of -1.94%. Behind this lies a "Tale of Two Cities" about technological approaches, security and trust, and market narratives. Zcash's Clever Choice: Optional Privacy Model Zcash's core technology is zk-SNARKs (zero-knowledge proofs), which allow transactions to be verified in a fully encrypted manner. But Zcash's most clever design lies in its "optional privacy" model—users can freely choose to conduct fully transparent transactions or completely anonymous "shielded transactions." This flexibility is interpreted by the market as a potential path to regulatory compliance. For institutions like Grayscale, a privacy coin that offers the option of transparency is clearly more palatable than a "black box" that mandates anonymity for all transactions. Coupled with the Electric Coin Company (ECC) team behind Zcash, which has consistently promoted wallet usability and plans to transition to Proof-of-Stake (PoS) to enhance interoperability, Zcash presents itself to the market as a positive, professional, and future-oriented cryptocurrency. Monero's Dilemma: A Foundational Crisis of Trust While Zcash was making rapid progress, Monero was embroiled in a serious security crisis. In August 2025, a mining pool called Qubic claimed to have successfully launched a "51% attack" on the Monero network, resulting in a six-block blockchain reorganization. Although researchers later pointed out that this was more of a PR stunt using a "selfish mining" strategy than a true 51% control of the network, the damage was done. This incident exposed the potential centralization risk of the Monero network's computing power and shook its foundation as the most secure and anonymous coin. When investors choose between two privacy coins—Zcash, newly endorsed by Wall Street and on the rise, and Monero, currently dealing with a cybersecurity crisis—it's easy to see which way the capital will lean. The revival of the entire anonymous sector: Zcash's explosion is just the beginning. After pouring into ZEC, capital began searching for the next "potential stock" within the sector. Consequently, we've seen some smaller, more resilient anonymous projects experience astonishing gains in the past month: Railgun (RAIL) is up 245%, and PIVX is up 42%. Even the established privacy coin Dash (DASH) saw a 43% weekly gain and a 90% monthly increase. This clearly demonstrates a thematic capital rotation underway in the market. When large-cap stocks like Bitcoin enter a correction, smart money begins searching for new narratives with high growth potential, and privacy clearly becomes the hottest option. From a technical perspective, major privacy coins each have their own strengths: Zcash, with its zero-knowledge proof technology and optional privacy model, has gained the strongest institutional appeal; Monero adheres to default privacy and asset fungibility; and Dash emphasizes fast transaction speeds and low fees. However, in this round of market fluctuations, Zcash, with its regulatory flexibility and institutional recognition, clearly holds the upper hand. 04 Summary This event is more like a successful roadshow for the concept of "institutional-grade privacy." It demonstrates that projects like Zcash, with cutting-edge technology, compliance options, and institutional recognition, are likely to continue to be the preferred choice for mainstream capital entering the anonymous space. Meanwhile, projects like Monero, which adhere to a "hardcore" privacy strategy, must address their own security and decentralization challenges.
For each of us in the crypto world, this "privacy renaissance" raises a profound question: In an increasingly transparent and monitored digital age, how much are we willing to pay to protect our financial privacy?
This market in the fall of 2025 may be just the first public market pricing of this question. When Wall Street begins to roll out the red carpet for privacy assets, perhaps it is telling us: Privacy has never been as valuable as it is today. And this revaluation has just begun.
Kikyo
Weatherly
Catherine
Anais