Zcash rose roughly 32% over the past week, hit about $1,595 on Sept. 19, and reached its highest level since launching in 2016, according to Unchained. The token now ranks No. 9 by market value.
The easy explanation is that privacy is back in favor. Mert Mumtaz, co-founder and CEO of Solana infrastructure firm Helius, said that reading misses the bigger picture.
Mumtaz ties the move to a broader store-of-value case
Speaking on the Sept. 21 episode of Unchained, Mumtaz said, 「I wouldn’t say for Zcash it’s the privacy aspect specifically.」 He described privacy as only one part of a larger setup.
His argument starts with what a store of value needs to look like. On the show, he said, 「You can’t actually have the best version of a store of value without that asset having the ability for privacy,」 adding that a store of value should carry as little surprise as possible, whether the issue is regulatory risk or fungibility.
In that framing, privacy is one requirement alongside scale and resistance to future threats. Mumtaz summed it up this way: 「It’s sort of the entire story of privacy, quantum proofing, store of value, scale.」
Zcash is working toward faster block times and full quantum resistance in its next upgrade. For now, the network is described as quantum-recoverable rather than quantum-proof.
Why Monero is part of the argument
Mumtaz said the comparison with Monero offers a clue. If the rally were only about privacy, he said, Monero would be posting 「the exact same price performance or something like this.」
Unchained noted that Monero, another privacy coin, is also up on the week, though by less than Zcash. Dash has climbed as well, which points to strength across privacy coins rather than a move tied only to Zcash.
A more concrete catalyst: Grayscale’s ZCSH ETF
The article also pointed to a more direct catalyst than any broad thesis. Grayscale listed a spot Zcash exchange-traded fund, ticker ZCSH, on Aug. 25. It has since pulled in $233 million in inflows.
That structure gives institutions a way to gain exposure to Zcash without directly touching a shielded address. In practical terms, that may be easier to point to than a narrative about privacy alone.
What happens if privacy stops being scarce
Unchained said Mumtaz has repeatedly promoted Zcash and that he said his firm helped bring the coin to Solana users through NEAR. He was also direct about his own reaction to the rally, saying on the podcast, 「when things go well, I’m not that enthused about them.」
He does not expect privacy to remain a lasting differentiator. 「Sooner or later, more and more chains will start adding privacy,」 he said. If Zcash’s run depends only on being the privacy option, that edge weakens as rivals add similar features. If the move rests on the broader store-of-value case he described, the argument holds up differently.
Mumtaz said the shortest pitch is simple: 「if you just say it’s encrypted Bitcoin, that’s pretty much all you need.」