The price of Zcash surged to over $700, sparking a debate between Bitcoin and Zcash communities. Zcash gained 1,500% since October, with CEO Hunter Horsley calling it a “coordinated pump and dump.” Zcash also became the top privacy coin, surpassing Monero with a market cap of $11.2 billion.

Industry executives rallied around Zcash, with Mert Mumtaz supporting the privacy coin. Zcash’s market cap of $11.2 billion puts it close to the top 10 cryptos, challenging Cardano’s ADA. BitMEX founder Arthur Hayes revealed Zcash as the second-largest liquid investment in his family office, Maelstrom.

Leap Therapeutics rebranded to Cypherpunk Technologies, a Zcash treasury company backed by Winklevoss Capital. The company’s shares spiked over 170% on the news. The price rally reignited talks about integrating privacy into Bitcoin through reactivating the OP_CAT opcode for advanced features. Magazine: 2026 is predicted to be the year of pragmatic privacy in crypto.

Read more at Cointelegraph: One Coin To Rule Them All or Is There Room for Both?