Grayscale Puts Zcash Alongside Bitcoin and XRP as a Privacy Coin
Grayscale points to Zcash’s privacy feature and sees room for it alongside Bitcoin, Litecoin, and XRP through zk-SNARKs. The market has already priced in part of that growth.
Key Takeaways
- Grayscale calls Bitcoin, Litecoin, XRP, and Zcash the main cryptos for digital payments.
- According to head of research Zach Pandl, Zcash still has room to keep growing because of its privacy feature.
- Around mid-2026, about 90% of Zcash transactions used shielded transfers, while its market value rose sharply.
Grayscale highlighted four cryptos that the company says are truly built for digital payments. Within the Currencies sector, the asset manager names Bitcoin, Litecoin, XRP, and Zcash as the main names, with Zcash in particular still having room to grow, according to head of research Zach Pandl.
Zcash as a Privacy Variant
Pandl says Zcash could eventually take some market share from Bitcoin because demand for private digital payments is rising. That is a different angle from Litecoin and XRP, which have long been pitched as faster or cheaper payment options, but have never really threatened Bitcoin.
The core of Zcash is privacy. The crypto uses zero-knowledge proofs, also known as zk-SNARKs, which let users hide transaction amounts and wallet data. According to Grayscale, around mid-2026 about 90% of Zcash transactions used shielded transfers, showing that this privacy feature is being used more and more in practice.
The Market Already Sees the Story
The market has already priced in part of that development. Zcash grew from about $4 billion (€3.5 billion) in market value in March to around $24.27 billion (€21.4 billion) now. That still leaves the coin at less than 1% of Bitcoin’s valuation of about $1.56 trillion (€1.4 trillion).
The price action also shows how much interest has picked up. ZEC is trading around $1,431 and is nearly nineteen times higher than a year ago. On September 29, 2026, Zcash was trading around $1,403.34 (€1,240) according to market data, down 3.6% from the previous closing price.
Why This Matters
For European crypto investors, this matters mainly because privacy is becoming a bigger theme in the crypto market again. Zcash shows that a coin can be positioned not just around speed or low fees, but also around hiding transaction data. At the same time, the sharp price jump makes it clear that the market has already built a lot of expectations into that story.
