Zcash (ZEC) surged over 15% to trade above $1,300, propelled by Paradigm co-founder Matt Huang disclosing the firm's ZEC investment and describing it as a private complement to Bitcoin. The rally coincided with a major NU7 governance vote where holders representing 2.4 million ZEC overwhelmingly backed cutting block times to 25 seconds and preserving its Bitcoin-style halving schedule. The sudden price spike triggered $56.35 million in short liquidations, punishing bearish traders.
ZEC price surge
- ▪Zcash surged double digits, trading between $1,330 and $1,467, following an investment disclosure by Paradigm co-founder Matt Huang and a successful NU7 governance vote in which holders backed cutting block times to 25 seconds and preserving Zcash's Bitcoin-style halving schedule
- ▪The Zcash price surge lifted its market capitalization to approximately $22.9 billion, ranking it as the ninth-largest cryptocurrency asset
- ▪The failure of the United States CLARITY Act to advance in the Senate left crypto market structure rules in limbo, driving traders toward privacy-focused assets like Zcash
Paradigm investment disclosure
- ▪Matt Huang characterized Zcash as a private complement to Bitcoin and endorsed its inflation-funded developer fund as an elegant mechanism for public goods funding
- ▪Matt Huang argued that relying solely on coin-holder voting to govern Zcash's treasury introduces market unpredictability and suggested combining it with other governance forms
- ▪Paradigm co-founder Matt Huang disclosed on September 16, 2026, that the venture capital firm holds Zcash tokens and is an investor in the Zcash Open Development Lab
NU7 governance vote
- ▪Zcash holders overwhelmingly approved proposals for NU7, the next major upgrade to the Zcash network, with 99.9% of participating tokens backing a reduction in target block times from 75 seconds to 25 seconds
- ▪Zcash voters approved delaying the reissuance of fees collected through the Network Sustainability Mechanism, an upgrade to Zcash's economic model that recycles a portion of transaction fees back into block rewards, until February 2031 by a 96.6% majority
- ▪The governance vote on NU7, the next major Zcash network upgrade, drew participation from nearly 2.4 million ZEC, representing approximately two-thirds of the eligible supply held in the Ironwood shielded pool
Short squeeze liquidations
- ▪Zcash's rapid price surge toward $1,400 triggered a wave of short liquidations, totaling $56.35 million in Zcash futures positions over a 24-hour period
- ▪A trader identified as '0x3c83' had a $1 million Zcash short position fully liquidated after flipping from a long position just as Zcash surged past $1,300
Bitcoin-style halving preservation
- ▪The Zcash Community Advisory Panel was closely split on the halving issue, with 57 members favoring a gradual issuance curve and 54 members favoring the preservation of halvings
- ▪Zcash coin holders voted 98.9% to preserve the network's Bitcoin-style halving schedule instead of transitioning to a gradual, smooth issuance curve
Debatable claims
- ▪Zcash should combine coin-holder voting with other forms of treasury governance
- ▪Zcash should replace its halving schedule with a gradual token issuance curve
Story comments
Loading comments…