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Zcash Draws Institutional Backing Amid Privacy Narrative and Technical Upgrades

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TLDR:

  • Zcash secured backing from Vitalik Buterin and Winklevoss twins who deployed $50M and lab donations.

  • Project Tachyon uses recursive zero-knowledge proofs to enable thousands of shielded transactions per second.

  • The shielded pool reached 5,030,093 ZEC representing 30% of total supply at all-time high adoption levels.

  • ZEC trades at $220-250 after 69% correction from $758 peak as community debates critical governance proposals.


 

Zcash continues to attract institutional attention as privacy becomes a focal narrative in cryptocurrency markets. The digital asset recently received backing from Vitalik Buterin and the Winklevoss twins.

ZEC trades between $220-250 after a 69% correction from its November 2025 peak of $758. The shielded pool reached an all-time high of 5,030,093 ZEC, representing 30% of total supply.

Community governance proposals including Project Tachyon are under consideration as the network evaluates technical upgrades.

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Institutional Validation and Strategic Backing

Vitalik Buterin made his second donation to Shielded Labs on February 6, 2026, specifically supporting the Crosslink upgrade.

The Ethereum co-founder stated that Zcash remains one of the most honorable crypto projects with a steadfast focus on privacy.

Shielded Labs’ Crosslink work aims to enhance security while reducing the security budget for long-term sustainability.

The Winklevoss twins restructured Cypherpunk Technologies, formerly Leap Therapeutics, into the first Digital Asset Treasury focused exclusively on Zcash.

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They deployed $50 million to acquire ZEC and donated 3,221 ZEC valued at $1.2 million to Shielded Labs. Tyler Winklevoss emphasized that privacy remains crucial for a free and open society.

Grayscale maintains its Zcash Trust (ZCSH) as the only institutional product offering pure ZEC exposure. The trust has operated through multiple market cycles.

These institutional moves validate Zcash’s position in the privacy sector as regulatory scrutiny on transparent blockchains intensifies.

Technical Upgrades and Project Tachyon

Project Tachyon represents a complete architectural redesign of how privacy scales on the network. Sean Bowe, the cryptographer behind Halo and Sapling, leads this effort to solve fundamental bottlenecks in privacy coin adoption. Current systems require wallets to scan every transaction on the blockchain to identify relevant ones.

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Tachyon uses Proof-Carrying Data and recursive zero-knowledge proofs to flip this model entirely. Wallets maintain their own cryptographic proof of solvency instead of scanning all network transactions.

The system enables oblivious synchronization where wallets sync in seconds rather than hours. This approach allows Zcash to scale to thousands of shielded transactions per second.

The upgrade targets mainnet deployment within a year. Benchmarks demonstrate the cryptographic primitives work as designed. Community funding supports the development effort.

The technology aims to enable planetary-scale encrypted money that works for billions of users with mobile-first accessibility.

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Governance Decisions and Community Sentiment

The Zcash Coinholder Protocol Feature Sentiment Poll addresses 11 questions shaping the network’s future direction.

Key proposals include Project Tachyon, Network Sustainability Mechanism fee removal, Zcash Shielded Assets, and Consensus Accounts. The community actively debates each proposal through established governance channels.

The Network Sustainability Mechanism proposes burning 60% of transaction fees to address long-term security funding.

ZIP 233, ZIP 234, and ZIP 235 introduce infrastructure to remove funds from circulation and smooth issuance curves. The mechanism extends the security budget timeline while maintaining the 21 million ZEC cap.

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Zcash Shielded Assets would enable custom token issuance within the Orchard shielded pool. QEDIT developed ZIP 226 and ZIP 227 for the technical implementation.

However, some community members express concerns about protocol complexity and regulatory exposure. The governance process ensures thorough community review before implementation.

Market Conditions and Price Outlook

ZEC currently trades at $220-250 after declining from $758. The recent drop swept the October 17, 2025 low of $187, creating a potential liquidity grab.

Support zones exist at $220-250, $180-200, and $120. Resistance levels appear at $300-310, $380-420, and $540-560.

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The Electric Coin Company development team resigned in January 2026 due to commercialization disagreements. The Zcash Foundation, Shielded Labs, and community contributors continue development work. This transition reduces reliance on a single organization for protocol advancement.

Dubai’s Financial Services Authority banned privacy coins from DIFC-regulated venues in January 2026. However, the SEC closed its investigation into the Zcash Foundation in late 2025 without action.

Zcash’s optional transparency through view keys and transparent addresses provides regulatory flexibility compared to fully anonymous alternatives.

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Crypto World

Hyperliquid price eyes $35 as Bollinger Bands tighten

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Hyperliquid price outlook: Bulls eye $35 as Bollinger Bands tighten  - 1

Hyperliquid price is approaching a key resistance level, and shrinking volatility suggests a possible breakout toward $35.

Summary

  • HYPE trades near $31 after slipping 5.7% in 24 hours but remains up 80% over the past year.
  • Bollinger Bands are tightening, signaling a volatility squeeze that often precedes a major move.
  • A breakout above $34 could push price toward $35, while losing $29 may expose the $26 support zone.

At press time, Hyperliquid (HYPE) was trading at $31.24, down 5.7% in the past 24 hours. Over the last week, it moved between $26.22 and $33.33, ending roughly 7% higher. However, the token has decreased by roughly 10% per month.

HYPE continues to be one of the better-performing altcoins despite the recent decline. Over the past year, the token has increased by about 80%, despite difficulties in the larger cryptocurrency market.

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Derivatives activity has cooled slightly. CoinGlass data shows that trading volume dropped 18% to about $1.25 billion, while open interest fell 7.5% to $1.21 billion, showing some traders closing their positions.

HYPE token fundamentals

HYPE’s price is influenced by several structural factors.  The core of Hyperliquid’s ecosystem is perpetual futures trading, and the Assistance Fund for token buybacks receives about 97% of platform fees.

Increases in trading are directly correlated with increases in buybacks. For example, when trading volumes averaged $29 billion daily, $5.82 million in buybacks were generated, demonstrating a direct correlation between trading demand and token support.

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Market sentiment has also been influenced by protocol upgrades. Permissionless perpetual markets were introduced by HIP-3, which produced a total volume of about $83 billion. 

HIP-4 proposal aims to launch outcome trading products, combining prediction markets, options, and binary-style contracts. These additions could expand platform activity if more retail or institutional traders participate.

Hyperliquid price technical analysis

HYPE appears to be entering a compressed volatility phase. Bollinger Bands have tightened on the daily chart, which is frequently an indication of an impending big move.

The upper band, which has caused pullbacks in recent sessions, is being tested by the price.

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Hyperliquid price outlook: Bulls eye $35 as Bollinger Bands tighten  - 1
Hyperliquid daily chart. Credit: crypto.news

The structure of the market has improved. HYPE has formed a string of higher lows around $26 and $29 since late January, indicating that buyers are intervening earlier on dips. This outlook is also supported by momentum indicators. 

There is potential for more gains as the relative strength index is in the mid-50s and trending upward. Meanwhile, the mid-Bollinger Band has been offering dynamic support around $29.

A move toward $35 could ensue if HYPE breaks above $33–$34, with a possible extension to $38 if buying pressure increases. Deeper losses could retest the $26 base, and rejection at resistance could push the token back toward $29 on the downside.

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Trump Son Echoes President’s Anti-Bank Message amid Stablecoin Yield Fight

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Banks, Donald Trump, Stablecoin, Companies

The post from Eric Trump, tagging his crypto company, came hours after his father claimed banks were holding a market structure bill “hostage.”

Eric Trump, son of US President Donald Trump and one of the co-founders of the family-backed crypto business World Liberty Financial, has jumped on the anti-bank messaging that many in the industry are espousing amid disagreements over how to handle stablecoin rewards.

In a Wednesday X post, Eric Trump echoed his father, claiming that banks were “desperately targeting” cryptocurrencies and stablecoins as discussions lag on the market structure bill in the US Senate. The post came hours after the president posted a similar message claiming that banks were holding the legislation “hostage.”

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Banks, Donald Trump, Stablecoin, Companies
Source: Eric Trump on X

The issue of stablecoin yield has been dividing many US lawmakers, banking industry representatives, and crypto companies, stymieing the market structure legislation. Eric Trump and many in the crypto industry oppose a ban on stablecoin yield, arguing it would “block any rewards or perks from being given to customers,” while some banking organizations have argued such rewards could undermine credit and lead to deposit flight risk.

Related: Trump met Coinbase CEO before slamming banks over crypto bill: Report

A company representative, in response to questions about Eric Trump’s post, said that the company was “not a political organization” and he “has been clear about why he helped create World Liberty Financial.”

Senate banking panel has yet to reschedule market structure bill markup

Eric Trump’s message was one of the latest public statements from a leading industry figure after three meetings between White House officials and banking and crypto representatives on how to address stablecoin yield in the market structure bill. The legislation, called the CLARITY Act when it passed the House of Representatives in July, has been delayed by a 43-day government shutdown and debates among lawmakers on ethics, tokenized equities and stablecoins.

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Although the Senate Agriculture Committee advanced its version of the bill in January, the banking panel postponed a markup and had yet to reschedule it as of Thursday. Both versions will likely need to pass the two committees and be consolidated before the full Senate can potentially vote on the bill.

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