Zcash (ZEC) extended its strong run on Sunday, briefly rising above $1,200 and reaching about $1,249 intraday. According to CoinDesk market data cited by ABMedia, the rally pushed ZEC’s market capitalization to about $20.44 billion, allowing it to overtake HYPE and become the ninth-largest crypto asset.
ZEC has gained about 370% over the past three months
ZEC is up about 134% so far this year and roughly 370% over the last three months. ABMedia said the recent surge has shown clear signs of a short squeeze. Based on data from derivatives analytics platform CoinGlass, ZEC ranked near the top of all tokens in short liquidations over the past 24 hours, behind only Ether and Bitcoin. As short sellers were forced to cover, the buying pressure pushed the price even higher.
Even after the latest jump, ZEC remains about 62% below its all-time high of roughly $3,191, set during its initial listing period in October 2016. In that context, the current move still represents a strong rebound after a long period at lower levels.
Grayscale’s Zcash ETF went live on Aug. 25
One major catalyst behind the rally is the opening of an institutional access route. Grayscale’s Zcash ETF, trading under the ticker ZCSH, launched on Aug. 25 and offers traditional investors a regulated way to gain exposure to ZEC.
ABMedia noted that Chain News had previously reported it was the market’s first Zcash ETF, and that launch had already helped lift ZEC to a multi-year high.
Arthur Hayes and Hunter Horsley have both expressed a bullish view
On the sentiment side, BitMEX co-founder Arthur Hayes and Bitwise Chief Executive Officer Hunter Horsley have both recently voiced bullish views on ZEC. At the same time, the Zcash network’s hashrate at one point climbed above 30 GSol per second for the first time, a sign that computing power committed to the chain was also increasing.
Privacy coins have long faced pressure from both regulation and market structure. Whether ZEC can extend this sharp advance will depend, in ABMedia’s framing, on the staying power of ETF inflows and broader market risk appetite.