Zcash (ZEC) aiming for a historical new high? Institutions OG are chasing the privacy narrative, with open contracts reaching an ATH of $360 million.

In the midst of severe market fluctuations, the Privacy Coin Zcash (ZEC) has demonstrated remarkable resilience, strongly rebounding after the recent market crash, with prices once climbing to $298. Since September, Zcash has seen a cumulative rise of over 500%. Strong fundamentals, including support from well-known tech investor Naval Ravikant, an actively building developer community, and interest from Bitcoin OGs, have collectively propelled its “privacy narrative.” On-chain data shows that Zcash's Shielded supply has reached an all-time high, while the open interest (OI) in the futures market has also surpassed $360 million ATH, indicating heightened speculative interest. With an improvement in market conditions, Zcash could potentially challenge its historical high of $377.

Strong Fundamentals: Privacy Narrative and Developer Support Drive ZEC Surge

Despite the massive crash in the crypto market last Friday, Zcash (ZEC) maintained relative resilience, rebounding to $298 over the weekend. From $40 in September, it has surged to nearly $300, representing an increase of over 500%.

· Celebrity Effect and Institutional Favor

The initial momentum of this round of rise comes from the support of well-known tech investor Naval Ravikant. Currently, ZEC continues to receive significant attention, with each pullback attracting notable buying interest. Interestingly, some core OGs (Original Gangsters) in the Bitcoin space have also begun to include ZEC in their portfolios, further confirming that the core narrative of “privacy” still holds strong market appeal.

· Developers and ecosystem construction accelerate

The developer community of Zcash is intensifying its platform development. For example, Mert Mumtaz, the founder of the blockchain development company Helius based on Solana (SOL), stated that he will organize a hackathon to help build more privacy applications and technologies on the Zcash platform.

Zcash on-chain data: Shielded supply hits new high, market demand strong

The core advantage of Zcash is that its users can choose to keep the details of their transactions private (shielded transactions), which contrasts sharply with the characteristic of the Bitcoin network where all data is public. On-chain data and derivative market activities indicate that the demand for Zcash is surging.

· “Demand for 'Crypto BTC' surges”

According to Josh Swihart, one of the creators of Zcash, the shielded ZEC supply on the Zcash network reached a record level in 2025. So far, about 27% of the total ZEC supply, which is over 4 million ZEC, has been shielded. Swihart also noted that the exchange volume on-chain has also increased, which is seen as further evidence of growing market demand for this “crypto BTC” spot.

· Futures OI hits an all-time high

In the futures market, Zcash's Open Interest (OI) reached a historical high (ATH) of $360 million on Sunday. Although it has slightly retreated at the time of writing, this still indicates extremely high speculative interest in the market, which may continue to drive up the price of ZEC in the future.

Price Alerts and Potential Trend Analysis

Despite the strong fundamentals and market interest, Zcash's price still faces the risk of a short-term pullback.

· Callback risk and local top signals

The current price of ZEC has dropped about 16% from its recent high of 298 USD and is still about 50% lower than the historical high of 372 USD achieved in 2021. Notably, when the price of ZEC broke through 200 USD, there were signs of an “overabundance of retail investors” pouring in, which, based on historical trends, may indicate that a pullback or the formation of a local top is reasonable.

· Key Support and Rise Prediction

(Source: TradingView)

If the OBV (On Balance Volume) support level can remain above 6 million, it will enhance the possibility of Zcash's rebound. In this case:

Staying above $253, ZEC is very likely to soar to $300, and even challenge the historical high of $377.

On the contrary, if the OBV support is broken, the price of ZEC may be dragged down to $212 or $176.

· Investment Opportunity

Overall, the demand in the spot and derivatives markets indicates that once the macro market sentiment improves, Zcash is expected to recover quickly. Therefore, any drop below 250 dollars may present an excellent buying opportunity.

Conclusion

Under the long-standing and powerful narrative of “privacy”, Zcash (ZEC) is on the verge of a breakout. Support from well-known investors like Naval Ravikant, active building by the developer community, and record-high shielded supply and open contracts all provide strong fundamental support for ZEC to challenge its historical high of 377 USD. Although there is a need to be cautious of the pullback risks triggered by a surge of retail investors in the short term, if the key support level of 253 USD can be maintained, the speculative enthusiasm and potential rise of Zcash should not be overlooked.

This article is news information and does not constitute any investment advice. The cryptocurrency market is highly volatile, and investors should make cautious decisions.