Crypto Quill

Zcash rocketed past $221 yesterday, fueled by a whopping $25 million seed funding round and buzz around new mining plans. The privacy coin grabbed headlines as it outpaced Bitcoin’s gains, hitting a market cap of $3.5 billion. Traders eye more upside, but will this momentum hold?

Zcash jumped 2.88% to around $214 early yesterday, mirroring Bitcoin’s climb. It peaked above $221 on March 13 before pulling back to $213.66, up 1.6% daily.

Right now, Zcash trades near $208 with a $3.44 billion market cap. Data from CoinMarketCap shows 24-hour volume topping $360 million. This move puts Zcash up over 13% in the past month, far ahead of many rivals.

The coin’s supply caps at 21 million, like Bitcoin. Circulating supply sits at 16.57 million ZEC. Investors watch closely as privacy demand heats up.

$25 Million Seed Fuels Development Fire

Zcash Open Development Lab, or ZODL, just closed over $25 million in seed cash. Former Electric Coin Company leaders, including Josh Swihart, started it after a team split.

Funds will boost protocol upgrades and the Zodl wallet app. This self-custodial tool aims for easy private sends across chains.

Key backers include:

• Paradigm, leading the round
• a16z crypto
• Winklevoss Capital
• Coinbase Ventures
• Cypherpunk Technologies

Angels like Balaji Srinivasan and Haseeb Qureshi joined too. This cash reset development risks and sparked the 10% price pop to $224. ZODL plans to make Zcash more user-friendly for everyday privacy needs.

Shielded Transactions Hit New Highs

Privacy defines Zcash, thanks to zero-knowledge proofs that hide sender, receiver, and amount. Shielded transactions use these “shielded pools.”

The shielded pool now holds 30% of total supply, up from 11% in one year. That’s faster growth than the prior eight years combined.

Shielded addresses reached an all-time high recently. CoinMetrics data shows about 4.9 million ZEC shielded. While Q4 2025 saw a dip to 18.9% of transactions, overall use surges with network activity.

Here’s a quick look at recent highs and lows:

Date	High Price	Low Price	Close
Mar 13, 2026	$222.07	$206.00	$210.08
Mar 12, 2026	$212.90	–	$212.90
Mar 11, 2026	$222.93	–	$222.93

This table pulls from market trackers. Rising privacy adoption could shield users from tracking in a data-hungry world.

Foundry Mining Pool Targets Big Players

Foundry Digital, top Bitcoin miner, steps into Zcash with a U.S.-based pool in April. It fills a gap for institutions wanting compliant mining.

The pool adds KYC and AML checks, clear payouts, reports, and round-the-clock help. Rewards hit public ZEC addresses.

Foundry aims to cut hashrate risks and draw big money. Zcash mining lags behind others, so this boosts security and decentralization.

Institutions gain tools to validate transactions without hassle. As privacy coins shine, this news adds fuel to Zcash’s run.

Zcash’s fresh funding, shielded boom, and mining push signal a privacy revival in crypto. At $208, it offers real utility for those dodging surveillance. Users get private trades amid rising data threats. This could reshape portfolios seeking hidden gems.