Zcash news

Dash announced the integration of Zcash's Orchard shielded pool into its Evolution chain, a secondary layer that adds smart contract functionality. After cybersecurity audits, the feature should go live in March. Initial support will handle basic Zcash transfers and tokenised real-world assets. The move follows growing demand for privacy in crypto, highlighted by a 125% surge in Dash's price and calls from industry leaders like Binance's CZ that privacy is key to wider adoption. Regulators, however, are tightening restrictions, with Dubai's DFSA banning privacy tokens such as ZEC and XMR from regulated exchanges.

Zcash’s original developers have split from the Electric Coin Company (ECC) and formed Zcash Open Development Lab (ZODL). They will rename the Zashi wallet to Zodl and continue development outside ECC’s control. The move, mirroring the OpenAI‑Anthropic split, leaves the Zcash blockchain unchanged. ZODL will build new tools to boost shielded ZEC adoption while ECC remains a separate legal entity.

Gemini launched a Zcash‑focused credit card offering up to 4% rewards in ZEC, with no annual fee. Cardholders can select from over 50 crypto assets, and ZEC is among the top 10 rewards, following similar themed cards for Bitcoin, Solana and XRP. Holders who retained ZEC rewards for a year saw their holdings rise over 900%; ZEC itself has surged more than 750% annually, though it fell about 6% in the past 24 hours. The card’s launch comes amid Gemini’s recent public offering and regulatory developments, which are not directly linked to the new product.

Zcash whales added 6,500 ZEC (~$2.5m) after a 26% slump, boosting holdings to 43,722 ZEC. The bear-flag weakens as ZEC pushes above its upper trendline and RSI shows hidden bullish divergence. A break above $449 could lift it toward $561. Dusk shows split whale action: smaller holders trimmed 7% while top-100 added 13.9%, net +56.6m DUSK (~$8.2m). The token forms an inverse head-and-shoulders; a close above $0.190 would target $0.321-$0.330, but risk remains. COTI whales halted selling mid-January; recent modest buying of ~930k tokens follows a bullish RSI divergence. A daily close above $0.019 tests the channel; success could lift the price to $0.024, a 40% rebound, otherwise downside persists.

Zcash’s price surged 9% in the last 24 hours to $376.90, while sentiment on prediction market Myriad flipped from bearish to bullish, with 40% now betting the coin will reach $550. The optimism follows a rocky month, during which the company saw mass executive resignations and the creation of spin‑off projects. Despite a 26% month‑on‑month decline, Zcash’s foundation cleared an SEC probe without enforcement and the broader privacy‑coin sector posted gains, with Verge, Dash and Monero up 6.6%, 5.8% and 3.6% respectively. The renewed sentiment could signal a short‑term rally for the privacy asset.

Zcash has fallen over 18% in the last 24 hours after the Electric Coin Company (ECC) lost its core team, including former CEO Josh Swihart, who said the board was misaligned with Zcash’s mission. ECC named former Worldcoin executive Steve Smith as interim CEO, a move criticized by privacy advocates. Meanwhile, former staff are launching cashZ, a wallet and full‑stack development project, and Shielded Labs received $1.16 million in funding from Gemini and the Winklevoss brothers. On‑chain activity, especially shielded transactions, has dropped 60% from November peaks, although fees remain high. Analysts say the coin’s future hinges on new leadership’s roadmap and how the ecosystem can sustain demand, while the SEC has closed its probe with no action.

The Winklevoss twins have donated 3,221 ZEC—worth about $1.16 million—to Shielded Labs, an independent Zcash development group led by founder Zooko Wilcox. The funding will support long‑term protocol upgrades such as the Network Sustainability Mechanism, Crosslink and Dynamic Fees. Shielded Labs operates separately from the Electric Coin Company and the Zcash Foundation, focusing on protocol‑level research. The donation comes amid recent tensions in the Zcash ecosystem, including staff departures from the Electric Coin Company, and is framed as a vote of confidence in privacy‑first, decentralized development.

Zcash Foundation released a Rust‑based DNS seeder that lets new nodes quickly find peers, enhancing network reliability and reducing failure risk during growth. It replaces older seeders and modernizes a critical piece of infrastructure. Built on Zebra’s networking code, the seeder uses a lock‑free, rate‑limited architecture to handle high traffic, supports IPv4/IPv6, offers Prometheus metrics and Docker deployment, and is open source on GitHub.

Cake Wallet, known for Monero, now supports Zcash shielded transactions by default, keeping ZEC details hidden unless users opt out. The default shielded mode aligns with Cake’s stance that privacy should be standard, not optional, echoing broader demand for confidential crypto transactions. The update follows growing Zcash adoption, with exchanges like Gemini adding shielded withdrawals and a 23% share of shielded trades. Critics question Zcash security, yet the wallet claims automated address rotation and autoshielding will protect even transparent users. Cake also continues supporting Bitcoin privacy options and added NEAR Intents for cross‑chain swaps, while a former Zcash team formed a rival wallet, Cashz. The move reflects heightened interest in privacy coins and evolving regulatory perception.

SEC concluded its review of the Zcash Foundation, stating no enforcement or regulatory changes are needed, ending a two‑year probe. The announcement lifted a legal cloud, and ZEC rose to around $440, up about 13%, as traders priced in lower risk. Amid the clearance, the Zcash ecosystem had faced governance turmoil: the core team at Electric Coin Company resigned after a dispute with the Bootstrap Foundation, causing a sharp sell‑off. The network remains decentralized and operational, and the combined developments have shifted market sentiment.