Zcash is breaking out of an eight-year downtrend against Bitcoin while posting impressive gains of 70% monthly and 130% yearly, fueled by renewed interest in privacy cryptocurrencies.
A bullish storm is forming for Zcash ZEC $527.0 24h volatility: 1.8% Market cap: $8.68 B Vol. 24h: $715.03 M , the second-largest privacy cryptocurrency by market capitalization and the first project to introduce ZK-SNARKS to the crypto industry nine years ago. ZEC is breaking out of an eight-year downtrend against Bitcoin BTC $87 700 24h volatility: 0.2% Market cap: $1.75 T Vol. 24h: $49.45 B in the logarithmic scale’s monthly chart—while being up 70% in the last 30 days and 130% year-over-year against the dollar.
The crypto trading account on X, TraderButWhy, highlighted the ZEC/BTC monthly chart downtrend breakout on Sept. 29, as Zcash’s strong momentum continued at the start of this week. This downtrend dates back to 2017, lasting for over eight years. Interestingly, the trader mentioned being hurt “far too many times” by what he called “this problem child,” Zcash.
I've been hurt far too many times by this problem child but ZEC/BTC just left its logarithmic (!) descending channel for the first time since 2017
is mert single handedly shaving zcash? https://t.co/LjYAPqouHU pic.twitter.com/TA1QgmncnQ
— TradeButWhy (@tradebutwhy) September 29, 2025
Mert—founder of Helius, a well-known Solana SOL $123.7 24h volatility: 0.8% Market cap: $69.60 B Vol. 24h: $5.46 B advocate, and one of the most influential persons in the crypto space on X—has been advocating for ZEC as a leading privacy solution for a while, possibly igniting support from other industry leaders and contributing to the recent performance, as TraderButWhy suggested in his post and Coinspeaker reported on Sept. 25.
Some traders, like the one mentioned above, have been used to considering Zcash “a late stage cyclical phenomenon,” meaning it is, historically, a coin that goes well close to the end of a bull market cycle, foreshadowing a bear market. Yet, Mert seems to believe “this time is different,” which led to the recent analyses.
Zcash has seen many developments and notable upgrades in the last nine years since launch, consistently addressing identified flaws and user-reported issues like the trusted setup required for its first two anonymity set pools, Sprout and Sapling, now not required for the Orchard Pool, powered by Halo 2. ZEC’s privacy can be reached by an action called “shielding,” depositing the coins to the pool, making them untraceable as long as they remain used in their shielded form.
🛡️ Shielding Zcash is like:
> You own 1L of water, everyone can see you carrying it around
> Drop the 1L into a 4 million liters lake, full fungibility
> Get a fully encrypted note that says you own 1L
> Only you hold the keys to decrypt this note
Full explanation 🧵↓ $ZEC pic.twitter.com/iilZg8hDp8
— Vini Barbosa (@vinibarbosabr) September 29, 2025
ZEC Surges 70% in 30 Days: Breaking Down the Rally
Data from CoinMarketCap shows ZEC trading at $67.66, following a brief correction from its major rally up to $71 this Monday, Sept. 29. Based on this price and historical exchange rates, Zcash is up 69.5% in one month and 130% in one year, according to the index.
The coin is now positioned as the 76th largest cryptocurrency by market cap, quickly climbing the ranks. It was at the 84th position on Sept. 25, in Coinspeaker’s last report about Zcash.
Zcash (ZEC) one-month and one-year charts as of Sept. 29, 2025 | Source: CoinMarketCap
Against the leading cryptocurrency, Zcash is trading at 0.0006072 BTC, ready to confirm the breakout if it remains above the eight-year downtrend line when September closes tomorrow. Privacy coins have seen an uprise in interest, evidenced by the surge for the key phrase “privacy coins” on Google Searches, reaching new all-time highs, Coinspeaker reported.
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