Zcash rose 4.1% to $217.80 after the team announced a $25 million funding round from top venture firms following its split from the Electric Coin Company, pushing ZEC's 24‑hour gain to 9.8%. The round aims to finance development, audits and ecosystem growth under the project's independent roadmap.
Veteran crypto researcher Justin Bons warned on X that quantum computers could potentially break privacy protections in Zcash and Monero. His post has reignited debate over the quantum resilience of cryptographic primitives used by leading privacy coins.
Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin has donated to Shielded Labs to support Crosslink, a proposed consensus upgrade for Zcash focused on privacy and interoperability. The move signals notable industry backing for ZEC privacy research.
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has closed its investigation into the Zcash Foundation without filing charges, a sign of eased enforcement after recent high-profile cases. The move is being watched for implications to ZEC and broader regulatory clarity in crypto.
Monero climbed to a fresh record high as a wave of buying lifted privacy tokens and select altcoins while Bitcoin traded sideways. Zcash, Dash and Solana were among the standouts in the move.
Monero (XMR) climbed above $500 Sunday, marking its highest levels since 2021 while rival Zcash (ZEC) lagged. Traders say XMR faces stiff resistance in the $500–$520 zone that could invite a sharp pullback unless decisively cleared.
Electric Coin Company CEO Josh Swihart said the development team resigned and will launch a new company after disputes with the nonprofit board overseeing Zcash. The split creates governance and operational uncertainty for the ZEC ecosystem.
The SEC invited Zcash founder Zooko Wilcox to a December 15 roundtable on privacy and financial surveillance, intensifying debate over privacy features in Bitcoin after criticism from figures like Michael Saylor.
Grayscale has filed with the SEC to convert its Zcash Trust into a spot ZEC ETF that could list on NYSE Arca, potentially becoming the first exchange-traded product tied to a privacy coin. The proposal follows a wave of spot crypto ETF listings from Grayscale and other asset managers and will test regulatory tolerance for privacy-focused products.
Reliance Global has completed a full transition to Zcash (ZEC) as its primary treasury anchor, naming ZEC its exclusive digital-asset reserve. The company cited Zcash's privacy and fungibility features as core reasons for the switch.