ZEC Breaks $600 for the First Time Since 2018, Privacy Coins Are Back

Zcash is back in the spotlight. The privacy-focused cryptocurrency, known by its ticker $ZEC, just crossed $600, a level not seen since January 2018.

The surge marks a powerful comeback for one of the earliest zero-knowledge projects in crypto, and a potential turning point for privacy tokens.

JUST IN: $ZEC breaks above $620 to hit a market cap of $10B.

It is now among the top 20 cryptocurrencies by market cap.

View chart: https://t.co/J3CHantXGF pic.twitter.com/As0NnhVGbD

— CoinGecko (@coingecko) November 7, 2025

ZEC has been unstoppable over the past few weeks. According to CoinMarketCap data, the token climbed from $40.42 on September 1 to $619 at the time of writing, a 1,431% gain in just two months.

The rally adds up to more than 15x growth in three months, giving Zcash a market capitalization of $10.2 billion. That pushes it to 13th place among the largest cryptocurrencies in the world.

Zcash has also become the face of the ongoing privacy-coin rally, outpacing competitors like Monero and Firo. Over the past 24 hours alone, ZEC jumped 21%, adding another billion dollars to its valuation.

The latest breakout caught the attention of Cardano founder Charles Hoskinson, who weighed in on X (formerly Twitter).

Hoskinson retweeted a post from user Rashid bin Saeed, who had urged traders:

“Don’t fade privacy coins.”

Hoskinson’s short reply, “Midnight :)”, immediately went viral.

The comment was a nod to Cardano’s upcoming zero-knowledge sidechain “Midnight,” designed to blend privacy with compliance. It’s a subtle reminder that while Zcash pioneered the concept of zero-knowledge proofs, the next generation of blockchains is building on its foundation.

Hoskinson’s post effectively tied Cardano’s roadmap to the broader privacy narrative, and gave Zcash another wave of visibility among retail traders.

Midnight