Arthur Hayes, the outspoken crypto investor and former BitMEX CEO, has a new favourite outside of Bitcoin — Zcash. Hayes recently revealed that ZEC is now one of his largest non-Bitcoin holdings, a move that has reignited interest in a privacy-focused coin many observers had written off. Why Zcash? Hayes argues that the market’s appetite for financial privacy will grow as artificial intelligence, governments, and big tech develop ever more powerful tools to analyze public blockchains. In a now-circulating comment — amplified on social media — he praised Zcash’s “shielded” transactions that let users move value without leaving a clear on-chain trail, even when swapping between tokens such as USDT or Bitcoin via privacy-enabled rails. That thesis is finding echoes elsewhere in crypto circles. Barry Silbert, veteran investor, likened Zcash’s current stage to Bitcoin in 2013, when BTC was still a niche asset before mainstream waves of adoption. And at a 2026 Las Vegas crypto conference, some longtime Bitcoin holders reportedly expressed discomfort with how traceable and institutionalized Bitcoin has become — a sentiment that helps explain renewed interest in privacy-centric alternatives. A short primer: Zcash launched in 2016, created by cryptographer Zooko Wilcox with researchers from Johns Hopkins and MIT. It implements zk-SNARKs, a zero-knowledge proof technology that can hide sender and receiver addresses, transaction amounts, and other metadata. Unlike Bitcoin, where transaction details are public by default, Zcash gives users the choice to transact privately while retaining the capability for selective transparency when required. The market has responded. Since early May 2026, ZEC climbed from roughly $380 to a peak near $615 before a pullback. Over the month, ZEC gained more than 30% and was up almost 50% over the prior 30 days — substantially outpacing Bitcoin over the same stretch. At the time of reporting, ZEC traded below $520 after a roughly 5.5% decline in the past 24 hours. Institutional conduits exist: Grayscale continues to provide exposure to Zcash through its investment products. Still, Zcash carries the same volatility and regulatory and technological risks that affect much of crypto — risks that celebrity or high-profile endorsements cannot erase. Bottom line: Hayes’s public stake and renewed commentary have put Zcash back on investors’ radars, framing privacy as a potentially rising differentiator in a world of improving blockchain surveillance. Whether that thesis will sustain a longer-term rerating or simply spark a short-lived rotation remains a question for markets and regulators alike. Read more AI-generated news on: undefined/news