Zcash surged roughly 20% over the past 24 hours after Paradigm co-founder Matt Huang revealed that the crypto investment firm had invested in ZEC.
The move came alongside a broader recovery across the cryptocurrency market. However, Zcash continued to outperform many major digital assets.
Zcash Price Surges After Paradigm Disclosure
Zcash (ZEC) traded near $1,338 on Thursday following the latest rally.
The privacy-focused cryptocurrency allows users to conduct shielded transactions that can hide wallet addresses and transaction amounts through zero-knowledge proof technology.
Momentum strengthened after Huang disclosed on Wednesday that Paradigm is both an investor in the Zcash Open Development Lab, or ZODL, and a holder of ZEC tokens.
The announcement added fresh attention to Zcash at a time when privacy-focused cryptocurrencies have been showing strong relative performance.
ZEC Extends Its Powerful Monthly Rally
The latest gains pushed Zcash significantly higher over the past month.
ZEC has risen by roughly 160% during that period, according to CoinGecko data. By comparison, Bitcoin (BTC) gained around 18.2% over the same timeframe.
The difference highlights the strong momentum behind Zcash compared with the broader cryptocurrency market.
Paradigm Founder Backs Zcash Privacy Model
Huang described Zcash as a privacy-focused counterpart to Bitcoin.
He also expressed support for the network’s developer funding model, which uses part of Zcash inflation to finance ongoing development.
According to Huang, long-term funding could become increasingly important as artificial intelligence strengthens cyber capabilities and quantum computing continues to advance.
He also supported combining Zcash coinholder voting with additional governance mechanisms.
Such a system, he argued, could help reduce uncertainty around Zcash while preserving its role as a monetary asset.
Zcash Community Supports Major Network Upgrade
Huang’s comments came as the Zcash community prepares for NU7, the network’s next major upgrade.
A recent coinholder poll showed overwhelming support for reducing Zcash’s target block time from 75 seconds to 25 seconds.
Around 99.9% of participating ZEC holders supported the change.
Meanwhile, approximately 98.9% voted to keep the current halving schedule and token issuance structure unchanged.
Developers are aiming to finalize the contents of the NU7 upgrade by Sept. 30. However, an official activation date has not yet been confirmed.
Paradigm Already Invested in Zcash Development
Paradigm’s involvement in the broader Zcash ecosystem was already known before Huang’s latest comments.
In March, the Zcash Open Development Lab announced a seed funding round worth more than $25 million.
The round included several major crypto investors, including Paradigm, a16z crypto, Coinbase Ventures and Winklevoss Capital.
Huang’s disclosure therefore provided additional confirmation that Paradigm’s exposure to Zcash extends beyond infrastructure investment and includes the ZEC token itself.
Crypto Market Rises Following Fed Rate Hike
Zcash’s rally also came during a broader rise across cryptocurrency markets.
The market moved higher after the US Federal Reserve increased interest rates by 25 basis points, bringing its benchmark range to 3.75%–4%.
The decision marked the Fed’s first interest-rate increase since 2023.
Despite tighter monetary policy, cryptocurrencies and other risk assets moved higher during the session.
Privacy Coins Continue to Outperform
Privacy-focused cryptocurrencies have also been outperforming the wider digital asset market.
Glassnode data showed that the privacy coin sector stood roughly 213% above its level at Bitcoin’s October 2025 peak.
Even when Zcash was removed from the calculation, a basket of privacy-focused cryptocurrencies had gained about 85% over the previous year.
The data suggests that ZEC’s rally is part of a broader increase in investor interest toward privacy-related crypto assets, although Zcash remains one of the sector’s strongest performers.
Zcash Rally Keeps ZEC in Focus
Zcash’s latest 20% rally has placed ZEC firmly back in the spotlight.
Paradigm’s disclosed investment, strong monthly performance and continued development activity have all contributed to renewed interest in the cryptocurrency.
With ZEC significantly outperforming Bitcoin over the past month, traders are now watching whether the current momentum can continue as the broader crypto market moves higher.
