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Will Zcash recap $300 as ZK-backed privacy narrative gains threshold?

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Zcash’s ZEC is consolidating near $235–$240 after a sharp February selloff, with a $25m ZODL raise, Foundry’s new mining pool and rising shielded use turning it into a 2026 privacy‑trade leader.

Summary

  • Zcash’s ZEC is trading near $235–$240 after a mid‑March surge of over 20% in a single day, extending a multi‑week recovery from February’s steep drawdown.
  • The privacy‑focused coin has seen daily volumes in the hundreds of millions of dollars during the latest upswing, as traders respond to fresh venture funding, new mining infrastructure and improving technical momentum.
  • Sector‑wide interest in privacy assets has picked up in 2026, with ZEC outpacing many peers as on‑chain shielded usage rises and developers accelerate work on new wallets and consensus upgrades.

Zcash’s (ZEC) native token ZEC, one of the longest‑running privacy coins in the market, is holding near the $235–$240 range this week after a volatile first quarter that saw it sell off sharply in February before rebounding on strong March news flow.

Will Zcash recap $300 as ZK-backed privacy narrative gains threshold? - 1

Data from BestCryptoChecker shows ZEC’s price dropped about 20.93% in February 2026, falling from $302.80 to close the month at $239.41, underscoring how aggressively the asset had been de‑risked before the latest move higher. The token, which uses zero‑knowledge proofs to enable shielded transactions and is categorized as a privacy and payments coin, has now re‑emerged as a focal point in the renewed 2026 privacy narrative.

ZEC extends rebound as $25m ZODL raise and Foundry mining pool revive Zcash story

Momentum turned decisively in March. On March 16, ZEC posted a 23.26% daily gain to trade around $285.35, with market capitalization at roughly $4.74 billion and 24‑hour trading volume reaching $583 million, according to MEXC’s tracking. CoinMarketCap’s Zcash dashboard later highlighted that ZEC broke above $235 on March 25 on “strong volumes” following a major ecosystem funding announcement, extending a weekly gain above 10% on elevated spot turnover. While some shorter‑term RSI screens still flag periods of selling pressure on lower timeframes, 14‑day readings near the low‑to‑mid‑50s indicate neither extreme euphoria nor deep exhaustion, leaving room for trend continuation if demand persists.

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Behind the tape, a series of structural developments has reframed the Zcash story for 2026. The Zcash Open Development Lab (ZODL), a new core development entity formed after the breakup of the Electric Coin Company’s engineering team, closed a funding round of more than $25 million on March 25 from backers including Paradigm, a16z crypto and Coinbase Ventures, with capital earmarked for expanding the Zodl wallet and other privacy‑first tools. CoinMarketCap also reports that Foundry Digital, the largest Bitcoin mining pool, plans to launch an institutional‑grade ZEC mining pool in April 2026, marking its first move beyond Bitcoin and signaling growing confidence in Zcash’s long‑term viability. Additional roadmap items, including the CashZ wallet launch, consensus protocol upgrades and continued ZODL‑led ecosystem expansion, underline an effort to modernize infrastructure and make shielded transactions more accessible, potentially deepening ZEC’s role as a base layer for private finance.

Beyond Zcash itself, privacy coins as a group have begun to stage a comeback in 2026, with MEXC noting that ZEC and peers have delivered double‑digit daily moves as regulatory clarity around “digital commodities” and renewed interest in zero‑knowledge technology shift attention back to privacy‑preserving chains. That broader context matters: while some traders still see scope for a deeper correction toward the $100–$150 range based on ZEC’s longer‑term breakdown from much higher levels, recent funding, infrastructure and usage data have opened the door to a sustained repricing if the privacy trade continues to attract both retail and institutional capital.

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Crypto World

Morgan Stanley Sets Bitcoin ETF Fee at Ultra-Low 0.14%

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Morgan Stanley Sets Bitcoin ETF Fee at Ultra-Low 0.14%

Investment bank Morgan Stanley is seeking to launch its spot Bitcoin exchange-traded fund at a 0.14% fee, which would make it the cheapest in the US market and potentially force rivals to cut fees to stay competitive.

The 0.14% fee, proposed in Morgan Stanley’s latest S-1 registration statement on Friday, would be one basis point below the Grayscale Bitcoin Mini Trust ETF (BTC), currently the cheapest in the US market, and 11 basis points below the BlackRock-issued iShares Bitcoin Trust ETF (IBIT).

“Big move here. They are not messing around,” Bloomberg ETF analyst James Seyffart said, predicting that the Morgan Stanley Bitcoin Trust (MSBT) is “likely to launch in early April.”

Source: James Seyffart

Fellow Bloomberg ETF analyst Eric Balchunas said the low fee means that none of Morgan Stanley’s roughly 16,000 financial advisors — which manage $6.2 trillion in client assets — would feel conflicted in recommending the product to its clients.

Given that spot Bitcoin ETFs track the price movements of Bitcoin (BTC), Morgan Stanley’s ultra-low fee could spark a fresh fee war in the $83 billion market, putting immediate pressure on rivals to cut costs or risk losing assets.

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Regulatory approval would make Morgan Stanley the first bank to issue a spot Bitcoin ETF, expanding access to Bitcoin exposure for millions of its high-net-worth clients.

“They are the ultimate gatekeepers of rich boomer money,” Balchunas added.

Morgan Stanley previously selected Coinbase and Bank of New York Mellon as the proposed custodians for its Bitcoin ETF.

Morgan Stanley seeking suite of crypto ETFs, banking charter

Morgan Stanley, previously one of the more crypto-hesitant Wall Street firms, filed for the spot Bitcoin ETF in the first week of January, along with a Solana (SOL) ETF.

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Related: Bitcoin traders see 53% odds of sub-$66K BTC by April 24 

It then filed papers for a staked Ether (ETH) ETF later that week, and by the end of the month, the bank appointed one of Morgan Stanley’s longest-standing executives, Amy Oldenburg, to lead its digital asset team.

Source: James Seyffart

Morgan Stanley also applied for a national trust banking charter on Feb. 18, seeking to custody certain digital assets and execute purchases, sales and swaps for clients in addition to staking services.

In October, before the investment bank adopted its institutional crypto strategy, it recommended a 2% to 4% allocation to crypto portfolios for investors. It also allowed its financial advisors to recommend crypto funds to clients with individual retirement accounts (IRAs) and 401(k)s.

Magazine: Bitcoin may face hard fork over any attempt to freeze Satoshi’s coins

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