At a Consensus Miami panel, Multicoin Capital co-founder and managing partner Tushar Jain disclosed that the firm has built a “significant position” in Zcash (ZEC). The move marks a stark shift from Multicoin’s 2019 stance, when it argued that “privacy is a feature of valuable cryptocurrencies, not an independent product.”
Privacy Gains Value as Finance Moves On-Chain
Jain explained that as financial activities migrate en masse to blockchains, the need for private stores of value becomes critical. While Bitcoin can resist protocol-level freezes, its transparent ownership leaves holders vulnerable to surveillance by governments, creditors, or other actors. Zcash, by contrast, uses zero-knowledge proofs to obscure transaction details and user identities, aiming to mitigate such risks. “Multicoin bought a significant amount of Zcash to express that thesis,” Jain said during the discussion.
Currently, approximately 20% to 25% of ZEC in circulation is held in encrypted addresses, and about 30% of transactions involve the shielded pool. Grayscale has previously noted that ZEC’s upside is tied to a repricing of financial privacy in an AI-driven world.
ZEC Price Skyrockets; Privacy Coins Enter New Cycle
ZEC is trading near $570, up 122% over the past month and over 1,500% in the past year. The entire privacy coin sector has seen notable capital inflows recently.
Multicoin’s entry is not an isolated event. The Solana ecosystem is also advancing privacy infrastructure. Solana Foundation chief product officer Vibhu Norby revealed that Solana developers are building a privacy product to preserve DeFi composability. However, Solana’s documentation notes that the ZK ElGamal program powering confidential token transfers is currently disabled due to a security audit, rendering the confidential transfer extension unavailable.
Meanwhile, Zenrock’s wrapped ZEC product on Solana surpassed $15 million in cumulative volume late last year, linking Zcash’s privacy demand with Solana’s active trading ecosystem.
Privacy Becomes a Market-Structure Issue
Jain emphasized during the panel that privacy is not merely a cypherpunk ideal but a core market-structure issue. Transparent wallet records expose funds and trades to surveillance and front-running. Helius CEO Mert Mumtaz added that visible DeFi positions can be easily targeted in open markets.
With top venture capital firms like Multicoin increasing exposure and protocols like Solana and Zcash continuing to enhance privacy features, the narrative of “privacy as a store of value” is moving from the fringe to the mainstream. The market is now watching closely whether this privacy wave can sustain itself under evolving regulatory frameworks.