Zcash Rises as Shielded Supply Hits 5.1M, Hashrate Peaks

Zcash gained more than 13% over 24 hours to about $618 as Bitcoin, Ethereum and Solana fell. On-chain data show two records: shielded supply of 5.1 million ZEC and a network hashrate peak of 16.3 GH/s in late May.

Shielded pools hide transaction details and represent ZEC held in private balances. Most newly shielded ZEC is in Orchard, which held about 4.5 million ZEC by late May. The older Sapling and Sprout pools contained around 592,000 ZEC and 25,000 ZEC, respectively.

The network hashrate reached roughly 16.3 GH/s, above prior peaks near 11 GH/s in 2022 and about 10 GH/s in 2024. A higher hashrate increases the computing power securing the chain and raises the cost of attacking the network. Miners expanded capacity through 2025 and into 2026 after the November 2024 halving reduced new ZEC issuance.

Regulatory and institutional developments occurred alongside the on-chain shifts. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission closed its investigation into the Zcash Foundation in January. Grayscale initiated conversion of its Zcash trust to a spot exchange-traded product. Multicoin Capital disclosed it had built a large position in ZEC and described privacy as a hedge against scrutiny of visible holdings. Other investment firms disclosed increasing positions in ZEC and noted privacy exposure as a factor.

Derivatives markets showed net buying pressure in ZEC while several large tokens saw net selling. On the perpetual futures exchange Hyperliquid, ZEC recorded about $33.73 million in net buying, while Bitcoin showed more than $506 million in net selling. Open interest in ZEC futures stood near $368 million across about 7,190 traders, indicating notable leveraged exposure for the token.

Funding rates on perpetual futures were markedly higher for ZEC. The annualized funding rate for ZEC was about 40.77%, compared with roughly 10.95% for Bitcoin and Ethereum. A positive funding rate means traders holding long positions pay short holders to keep those trades open.

Grayscale wrote in a social post: “The upcoming Zcash $ZEC halving marks a key milestone in its economic model, reducing block rewards and highlighting its privacy-focused design.”

The records in shielded supply and hashrate, together with elevated futures activity, coincided with ZEC’s price gain while broader crypto markets showed weakness.