Zcash suddenly became the most eye-catching move in crypto overnight, jumping 23% as bitcoin and several major tokens pushed higher following the Federal Reserve’s first interest-rate increase since 2023.
ZEC traded near $1,369, while bitcoin rose less than 1% to around $76,258. Solana added nearly 3%, moving just below $100, while BNB and HYPE, the token tied to crypto trading platform Hyperliquid, climbed more than 2%.
Ether, XRP and dogecoin also gained, rising between 1% and 2% as the broader market recovered alongside stock futures in Asian morning trading.
The standout performance from Zcash arrived as Matt Huang, co-founder of crypto investment firm Paradigm, publicly discussed the privacy-focused network. Huang also disclosed that Paradigm owns ZEC.
His description was notably direct: “a private complement to Bitcoin.”
Zcash puts privacy back in the conversation
Zcash gives users the ability to move funds without publicly exposing who sent the money or the amount transferred, making privacy central to the network rather than an optional feature.
That focus has recently extended to governance and development. Zcash holders backed proposals aimed at making payments faster while maintaining scheduled reductions in the number of new coins created — a mechanism the network shares with bitcoin.
Huang said he supports continued funding for Zcash developers, while also arguing that token-holder votes should work alongside other approaches to deciding changes to the network.
For Zcash, the market reaction therefore arrived alongside a renewed discussion about what role privacy should play next to bitcoin.
The wider crypto move was tied to the Fed, which raised its benchmark interest rate by 0.25 percentage point, bringing the target range to 3.75%–4%.
Higher rates can make borrowing more expensive and reduce the money available for speculative assets. They can also make interest-paying cash and government debt more attractive compared with bitcoin, which does not generate income simply by being held.
This time, however, the increase had largely been anticipated by markets. The Fed’s median projection placed the policy rate at 4.1% at the end of both 2026 and 2027, implying one additional quarter-point increase this year.
Jeff Ko, chief analyst at ViaBTC, said the move had already been largely priced in.
“To me, the Fed is signaling that it does not currently envisage an aggressive tightening cycle, while markets appear reassured by its efforts to contain inflation.”
That interpretation coincided with a broader rebound across risk assets. S&P 500 futures gained 0.6%, Nasdaq 100 futures rose 0.7%, and Asian equities added 0.3%.
The two-year Treasury yield, closely watched for clues about expectations for Fed policy, fell two basis points to 4.71% after reaching its highest level since 2024 in the previous session.
For Zcash, though, the immediate story was more specific: a sharp price jump putting one of crypto’s longest-standing privacy networks back in the spotlight just as investors were recalibrating around the Fed’s next moves.