ZCash continues to gain traction based on its tendency to generate more shield coins. A new record for ZEC confined in a shielded pool was recently set.
ZCash (ZEC) is expanding on the trend of locking more coins into shielded pools. The supply of shield coins has expanded to an all-time high over the past day due to an increase in retail deposits. Another 959 ZECs were shielded, further accelerating the trend of privacy coin adoption.
The creators of ZCash pointed to this new record and the possibility of more ZEC being locked into the shielded pool.
Another day, another ATH.
ZEC shield of 959 or higher. https://t.co/n7u2XZNofS
—zooko🛡🦓🦓🦓ⓩ (@zooko) October 21, 2025
Further protecting ZEC also means that buyers cannot sell it and may instead use the coin for storage. ZEC is considered a long-term proposition, an anonymous coin that can be used in the DeFi space.
Depositors to shielded pools will likely avoid selling ZEC on the central market and instead use coins on bridges and shielded versions of Solana.
More ZEC coins are being added to the shield pool, suggesting they will be accumulated rather than sold for profit. |Source: ZEC Dashboard.
In the past three weeks, approximately 1 million ZECs have entered shielded pools but have not been dumped on exchanges. Retail remains the same shield coinrather than taking short-term profits.
ZEC maintains price range
Recent interest in the ZCash project and its bridge to Solana is the main driver of ZEC price movement.
ZEC has remained firmly above $250 and recently returned to the $270 level. The most bullish prediction is for the coin to attempt a recovery to $500. Despite the recent creation of anonymous coins and tokens, this coin is positioned as unique. ZEC is also one of the few assets that grows on a BTC basis. Over the past year, ZEC has grown 337% versus BTC, hitting a peak of 0.002 BTC.
ZCash has a 10-year track record and claims to fulfill one of Satoshi Nakamoto's predictions for an anonymous version of Bitcoin. Additionally, the ZEC community boasts millions of ZEC coins locked in shielded pools as one of its positive trends.
ZCash is doing well in retail and whale purchases
ZEC’s open interest remains relatively low compared to other older altcoins. Binance has over $91 million in open interest out of a total of $210 million. However, most notable is the activity ZEC participates in the Near protocol.
ZCash is encouraging new ways to use ZEC as the coins were recently removed from Keystone wallets. The Zashi app is currently the primary access point for ZEC trading and shielding.
Access to near-protocol swaps and Zashi wallets means retail traders have wide access to ZEC. Additionally, data shows that the whales have been replaced. 50BTC per day for ZEC coins
The rise of ZEC also showed that not all privacy coins are the same. Most of the privacy assets, including new coins, took a hit during the latest market correction.
Monero (XMR) is still trading around $305 as its social media mindshare remains high. Railgun (RAIL) stalled at around $2.51 as most other privacy coins declined following the demise of the altcoin market.
