Daily News 19

Tag: Zcash

  • $45M Zcash Whale Short Pressured as ZEC Surges Past $1,200, MemeToro Advances Open-Source AI Agent

    $45M Zcash Whale Short Pressured as ZEC Surges Past $1,200, MemeToro Advances Open-Source AI Agent

    Zcash Surges Above $1,200 as $45M Whale Short Faces Liquidation Pressure

    Zcash (ZEC) has captured market attention after breaking above the $1,200 threshold, reaching a decade-high trading range between $1,223 and $1,229. The rally has placed a reported $45 million whale short position under significant liquidation pressure, while open interest has climbed to an all-time high near $2.15 billion, signaling unusually elevated leverage around the asset.

    Short Squeeze Dynamics Drive Volatility

    When a heavily shorted asset rallies sharply, short sellers often rush to close positions to limit losses, creating additional buying pressure known as a short squeeze. The current Zcash price action reflects this dynamic, with the $45 million short position adding fuel to the upward move.

    For traders monitoring the setup, several key technical levels remain in focus:

    • $1,200: Major breakout area now cleared
    • $1,223–$1,229: Recent high zone and decade-high resistance
    • $1,254: Important confirmation level for next leg higher
    • $1,023: Major downside support area if momentum fades

    A daily close above $1,254 would strengthen the technical structure and could open a path toward the $1,400–$1,450 region. However, failure to hold elevated levels risks a sharp correction given the overextended leverage metrics.

    Spot Zcash ETF Listing Adds Institutional Demand

    The rally is not solely driven by short covering. Institutional inflows have followed the listing of the first spot Zcash ETF (ZCSH) on NYSE Arca, providing traditional market participants with regulated exposure to the privacy-focused cryptocurrency. ETF accessibility typically broadens the investor base and can sustain demand beyond speculative positioning.

    Combined with forced short covering, this new demand source has intensified upward pressure. Still, the speed of the advance warrants caution.

    Overbought Conditions Signal Mean Reversion Risk

    The daily Relative Strength Index (RSI) sits at approximately 86.47, a highly overbought reading. While an overbought RSI does not guarantee an immediate decline, it indicates that traders should prepare for potential mean reversion, particularly if broader cryptocurrency markets weaken.

    The $1,023 support level identified in the current outlook could become critical if momentum dissipates and a deeper pullback materializes.

    MemeToro Advances Open-Source AI Agent Infrastructure

    While Zcash navigates price discovery and leverage dynamics, MemeToro is pursuing a separate development track focused on technology infrastructure. The project has reached Stage 7 of its presale, reporting more than $121,000 raised at a token price of $0.00430.

    A key milestone is the publication of FairLaunchEscrow, an initial 1,373-line Solidity framework released via GitHub. The contract includes a hardcoded zero-insider-allocation mechanism designed to prevent hidden developer allocations, reinforcing transparent distribution rules for AI-driven token launches.

    MemeToro’s open-source AI agent scripts are intended to support its broader AI memecoin launch infrastructure, positioning the project as a tooling provider rather than a standalone token play.

    Market Outlook: Competing Forces at Play

    The current Zcash narrative combines multiple catalysts: a decade-high price break, a large short position under duress, record open interest, and fresh ETF-driven institutional demand. While a close above $1,254 could support further upside, the extreme RSI reading demands disciplined risk management.

    MemeToro’s developments represent infrastructure progress for a different market segment—AI-enabled fair launches on BNB Chain—and do not directly signal direction for ZEC.

    Frequently Asked Questions

    Why is the $45M Zcash short under pressure?

    ZEC’s rapid rise above $1,200 can force short sellers to close positions, adding buying pressure.

    What is ZEC’s important next level?

    A daily close above $1,254 is highlighted as an important technical confirmation level today.

    What is MemeToro’s AI agent work?

    MemeToro is developing open-source AI agent scripts as part of its planned AI memecoin launch infrastructure.

    More Information on MemeToro ($MT) Presale

  • Zcash Shorts Hit 72% as ZEC Price Holds Above $1,100 — What’s Next?

    Zcash Shorts Hit 72% as ZEC Price Holds Above $1,100 — What’s Next?

    Binance top traders have aggressively positioned for a Zcash price decline, with short accounts representing 72.05% of positioning versus just 27.95% long, according to CoinGlass analytics. The resulting long/short ratio of 0.39 underscores a strong consensus for downside among the exchange’s largest participants. Yet this bearish crowd faces a mounting challenge: persistent spot buying pressure and a technical structure that could trigger a short squeeze if key support holds.

    High-profile short position deep underwater

    Garrett Jin, a prominent figure in crypto trading and executive circles, illustrates the risk embedded in the crowded short trade. His 39.76K ZEC short position, valued at approximately $44.90 million, was entered near $576.30. With Zcash trading near $1,128.58 at press time, the unrealized loss on the position has ballooned to roughly $21.98 million.

    Jin’s liquidation price sits higher at $2,540.50, providing a buffer against immediate forced closure. However, any renewed upside move would deepen losses and increase pressure on similarly positioned traders, potentially accelerating a squeeze dynamic.

    Spot market buyers contradict derivatives bias

    While top trader accounts lean heavily short, spot market activity tells a different story. The 90-day Spot Taker CVD (Cumulative Volume Delta) indicator remains buyer-dominant, signaling aggressive buyers continue to control cumulative taker activity. This divergence matters: the dominant short positioning has not translated into equivalent selling aggression on the spot side. Instead, buyers have consistently absorbed available supply despite widespread expectations for a deeper correction.

    Jin’s mounting unrealized loss highlights the specific risk created when heavy bearish exposure encounters sustained aggressive buying.

    Derivatives cooling weakens short-side confirmation

    Broader derivatives participation has cooled significantly, undermining the conviction signaled by the top-trader ratio alone. ZEC Open Interest (OI) fell 11.49% to $2.41 billion in 24 hours, while derivatives trading volume plunged 42.06% to $5.99 billion over the same period. These declines suggest traders are reducing leverage exposure rather than aggressively adding fresh short positions.

    Historically, rising bearish exposure alongside expanding OI provides stronger evidence of new shorts entering the market. The current contraction in OI and volume instead reflects broad position reductions as speculative activity cools after ZEC’s sharp price expansion.

    Technical structure: FVG defense critical for wave five

    On the daily timeframe, ZEC has entered a pullback phase within a broader ‘Elliot Wave’ structure after failing to clear the $1,256.68 resistance level. The pullback is identified as a potential ‘Wave (4)’ correction before another price expansion.

    Crucially, a fair value gap (FVG) extends toward the $1,023.60 support area, creating a pivotal zone for the bullish technical structure. The MACD remains constructive despite the retreat, standing at 138.95 above its signal line at 112.00 with a positive histogram reading of 26.94. The correction has not yet invalidated the broader bullish framework.

    If buyers persistently defend the FVG, ZEC could pursue ‘Wave (5)’ and continue placing pressure on the crowded short positions.

    Outlook: crowded shorts meet resilient demand

    The dominant short positioning among Binance top traders faces a dual threat: persistent spot buyer absorption and a technical structure that favors upside continuation if key support holds. Falling derivatives participation suggests the short bias may reflect stale positioning rather than fresh conviction. A successful defense of the FVG near $1,023.60 could reignite upward momentum and force a painful unwind for the bearish crowd.

  • Zcash Eyes Further Gains, but Overbought RSI Warns of Pullback

    Zcash Eyes Further Gains, but Overbought RSI Warns of Pullback

    Zcash Surges 128% in 30 Days, Overtakes Dogecoin in Market Cap Rankings

    Zcash has climbed 128% over the past 30 days, propelling $ZEC past Dogecoin to claim the tenth spot among cryptocurrencies by market capitalization. The privacy-focused token rallied to a multi-year high of $1,254, narrowing the gap with Hyperliquid in the rankings.

    Such rapid appreciation typically signals an increased probability of consolidation or a meaningful correction. However, elevated trading activity, expanding social interest, and robust derivatives positioning suggest the broader rally may still have room to run.

    Trading Volume Signals Sustained Participation

    Zcash’s trading volume held near $1.6 billion, representing roughly 8% of the token’s circulating market capitalization. This level indicates that $ZEC continues to draw substantial market participation despite the sharp price increase.

    Social Metrics Flash Bullish Crossover

    On August 21, Zcash’s seven-day moving average of social volume crossed above its 30-day moving average, generating a bullish signal. Similar crossovers preceded the last two $ZEC rallies, with strong gains following each occurrence. The pattern repeated after the August signal, as the token accelerated toward its latest multi-year high.

    Rising social volume reflects growing trader and investor discussion around the asset. While heightened attention does not guarantee sustained price appreciation, it can attract liquidity and reinforce momentum during an established uptrend. Zcash has emerged as one of the market’s leading momentum trades, and continued investor focus could support further gains if buyers remain in control.

    Broader Market Sentiment Shifts to Greed

    The Crypto Fear and Greed Index climbed from a recent low of 36 to 73, placing the market firmly in “Greed” territory. This shift reflects a significant increase in risk appetite across the cryptocurrency sector. Zcash has benefited disproportionately as traders chase assets displaying strong momentum.

    The network’s privacy-centric use case remains central to its recovery. Zcash enables users to conceal transaction details through shielded transfers, differentiating it from transparent blockchains where transaction data is publicly visible. The protocol recovered after developers identified an exploit in its code, while adoption of the new Ironwood shielded vault helped preserve its core privacy function, allowing users to obscure transaction information while transacting with $ZEC.

    Derivatives Open Interest Hits All-Time High

    Derivatives activity underscores strong interest in the Zcash rally. CoinGlass data showed $ZEC open interest reached an all-time high of $2.8 billion on September 6, currently standing at $2.45 billion. Open interest measures the value of outstanding derivatives contracts that have not yet been settled.

    Rising open interest alongside a price rally typically indicates traders are adding exposure and committing fresh capital. The increase suggests futures market participants anticipate continued volatility and may be positioning for additional gains.

    Technical Breakout Confirms Ascending Triangle

    Zcash’s daily chart maintains a bullish long-term structure after the token broke above resistance at $680. The move confirmed a breakout from an ascending triangle, a pattern traditionally associated with bullish continuation. Based on the formation’s height, the breakout projects a longer-term price target of approximately $2,500.

    The former $680 resistance could now serve as structural support if $ZEC experiences a deeper correction. Holding above the breakout zone would preserve the triangle’s bullish implications. A move to $2,500 would require substantial additional gains from current levels and should be viewed as a long-term technical target rather than a guaranteed outcome.

    Sustained trading volume, continued demand for shielded transactions, and further growth in derivatives participation would help support that scenario.

    Momentum Indicators Warn of Near-Term Correction Risk

    Despite the constructive longer-term structure, momentum indicators suggest Zcash may be approaching a short-term correction. The Relative Strength Index (RSI) has risen to 76 for the second time in less than 15 days. An RSI above 70 typically signals overbought conditions.

    Overbought assets can continue rising, particularly during powerful trends. However, such elevated readings increase the probability of profit-taking and short-term volatility. A slight bearish divergence has also appeared on the daily chart, occurring when price reaches a higher high while the momentum indicator fails to produce a corresponding high. This divergence hints that the rally’s underlying strength may be weakening even as $ZEC trades near its recent peak.

    Key Downside Level to Watch

    Zcash’s current price structure points to $860 as a possible downside target if early buyers begin realizing profits. A decline to that level would represent a substantial correction but would not necessarily invalidate the longer-term bullish setup. Instead, the pullback could allow $ZEC to reset overbought indicators and establish a stronger base for another advance.

    The $860 area may also attract buyers who missed the initial breakout and remain confident in the $2,500 target. Traders should monitor whether derivatives leverage remains elevated during any decline, as heavy leveraged positioning could accelerate losses if falling prices trigger a wave of long liquidations.

    Zcash’s longer-term outlook remains constructive above its major breakout zone. In the near term, however, an RSI of 87 and an emerging bearish divergence suggest the market may need to cool before attempting another sustained advance.

  • Analyst Reveals Top Altcoins to Buy as Market Enters an Altcoin Supercycle

    Analyst Reveals Top Altcoins to Buy as Market Enters an Altcoin Supercycle

    Crypto Analyst Says Altcoin Super Cycle Has Begun, Names Four Coins He Holds

    Crypto analyst Ran Neuer says the market has entered a distinct altcoin super cycle, supported by a nine-year technical breakout that many traders have overlooked. He also identified the specific cryptocurrencies he is personally holding for the current phase of the market.

    According to Neuer, the cycle is being driven by renewed enthusiasm for altcoins rather than Bitcoin strength. He pointed to the ETH/BTC ratio as evidence, tracing its long-term pattern to Ethereum’s earliest use case: transferring digital value through smart contracts without human intervention.

    That use case helped trigger the 2017 initial coin offering boom before the ratio entered a prolonged downtrend as the technology struggled to deliver on its promises.

    “After a 9-year downtrend on the weekly, this is now breaking out,”

    Neuer said the breakout confirms a structural rotation into altcoins rather than a temporary market bounce.

    1. Solana

    Neuer named Solana as one of two winners of what he describes as the completed “L1 war.” He holds Solana directly and calls it “the second winner” in his broader investment thesis.

    He argues that Solana has effectively captured crypto-native onboarding, giving the network a strong position among users entering the cryptocurrency ecosystem through blockchain-native applications.

    2. Ethereum

    Alongside Solana, Neuer identified Ethereum as the other Layer 1 winner. He credited Ethereum’s integration with Base and Robinhood with helping it capture real-world asset onboarding, a channel that differs from Solana’s crypto-native user base.

    Neuer argues that the two networks have absorbed most of the long-term value in the Layer 1 sector, leaving him uninterested in other Layer 1 tokens.

    “I wouldn’t really invest in any other L1s because I just don’t think there’s any upside in the L1s,”

    Neuer said.

    3. Hyperliquid

    Neuer described Hyperliquid as the strongest active use case in crypto and said he holds the token directly. He cited its tokenomics and its role as an exchange as key reasons for his conviction.

    He also said he would buy Hyperliquid even at its current all-time high, arguing that the market is mispricing the token by focusing on fully diluted valuation, or FDV, without accounting for staking-driven scarcity.

    “Crypto is a function of scarcity times pressure,”

    Neuer said.

    “The buying pressure plus the staking pressure plus the actual buying pressure divided by the number of tokens in circulation creates insane pressure on the way up.”

    4. Zcash

    Neuer’s most aggressive individual call focuses on Zcash, the privacy-focused cryptocurrency that recently gained ETF backing. He argued that Zcash could develop into a dominant form of “private money” and outlined a specific scaling scenario linked to Bitcoin’s market capitalization.

    “I think the upside on Zcash from here is 10x, maybe 100x,”

    Neuer said.

    Neuer Still Holds Bitcoin

    Neuer’s confidence in altcoins does not come at Bitcoin’s expense. He remains bullish on Bitcoin because of continuing concerns about currency debasement, but views it as one component of a broader portfolio rather than the primary growth trade of the current cycle.

    What Comes Next for the Altcoin Market

    Beyond his four named holdings, Neuer believes investor attention is moving away from competition between blockchain infrastructure projects and toward application-layer projects that operate more like businesses.

    In his view, the strongest opportunities will involve assets with genuine user growth, sustainable revenue and a mechanism for distributing that revenue to token holders.

  • Zcash Developer Zakura Launches “Common” as ZEC Price Rises 5%

    Zcash Developer Zakura Launches “Common” as ZEC Price Rises 5%

    Zcash developer Zakura has released Common, a new suite of cryptography and protocol libraries designed to improve performance across Zcash wallets and full nodes.

    The release delivers major gains in proof generation, hashing, trial decryption and verification. Proof generation is now more than 14 times faster on mobile devices and over five times faster on desktop.

    Introducing Zakura Common.We just shipped 14x faster proving, 21x faster hashing, 1.5x faster trial decryption, and 4-8x faster verification.New releases of Zakura and wallets that use Zakura Common (such as @vizorwallet) will benefit immediately.https://t.co/WE2zfLLJ9S
    — Zakura (@ZakuraZcash) August 29, 2026

    The performance improvements have also attracted attention from crypto industry figures. Helius CEO Mert described the release as an “insane engineering feat,” highlighting the 14x reduction in latency delivered in a single release.

    Beyond proof generation, Sinsemilla hashing is now more than 21 times faster, while trial decryption has improved by over 1.5 times. zk-SNARK verification is also four to eight times faster.

    Faster Zcash Wallets and Full Nodes

    The new libraries are designed to improve the experience for both Zcash wallets and full nodes. Zakura said users can sometimes wait more than three seconds for a wallet to create a transaction. With Common, that time could fall below 200 milliseconds in many cases.

    Wallets that adopt the libraries should also synchronize faster. Zakura full nodes can benefit from faster transaction propagation and fewer orphaned blocks.

    Zcash co-founder Sean Bowe said the release delivers significant performance improvements across the network.

    “Shielded wallets that use Zakura Common, and full nodes like Zakura itself, all benefit from these massive performance improvements.”

    Zakura Common Requires No Zcash Network Upgrade

    A key feature of Zakura Common is that it does not require a Zcash network upgrade. The libraries are open source, allowing developers to include them in new versions of Zakura and compatible wallets.

    This approach enables the performance improvements to reach users without changing Zcash’s underlying network rules.

    ZEC Price Climbs 5%

    The release comes as Zcash is experiencing strong market activity. The native $ZEC token recently moved above $800 for the first time since January 2018.

    $ZEC is trading around $838.38 after rising 5%, while an earlier update placed the token at $838.60.

  • THORChain Privacy Upgrade Drives RUNE 26% Higher — Can Bulls Break $0.65?

    THORChain Privacy Upgrade Drives RUNE 26% Higher — Can Bulls Break $0.65?

    THORChain ($RUNE) Surges 26% After v3.20 Upgrade Enables Privacy Coin Swaps

    $RUNE rallied more than 26% in the past 24 hours, making it the top gainer among the top 200 cryptocurrencies by market capitalization. The price spike coincided with the launch of the THORChain v3.20 upgrade and a broader recovery across the crypto market. Daily trading volume tripled to exceed $20 million, though it remains modest relative to the token’s market cap.

    THORChain v3.20 Goes Live, Unlocking XMR and ZEC Swaps

    The network confirmed that the v3.20 upgrade went live on August 26. The release introduces native cross-chain swapping for Monero (XMR) and Zcash (ZEC) against Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), and major stablecoins. By bridging privacy-focused assets directly into THORChain’s liquidity pools, the upgrade expands the protocol’s addressable market and brings a new cohort of privacy-conscious users into its ecosystem.

    This development arrives three months after an exploit drained over $10 million from THORChain across BTC, ETH, and BSC networks. Since then, the protocol has rebuilt confidence, with swap volume data from DeFiLlama showing consistent dominance from Bitcoin and Ethereum. The chain currently averages roughly $7 million in daily BTC swaps and $10 million in daily ETH swaps.

    Source: DeFiLlama

    Short Liquidations Amplify the Move

    The sudden influx of buying pressure triggered a cascade of short liquidations in the perpetual futures market. According to CoinGlass data, $RUNE short positions worth roughly ten times the value of long positions were wiped out during the surge, adding fuel to the upside momentum.

    Source: CoinGlass

    Technical Outlook: Can Bulls Flip $0.65 Resistance?

    On the daily timeframe, the 200-day Exponential Moving Average (EMA) signals a shift to a long-term bullish trend. However, horizontal price structure remains bearish. $RUNE is still trading below the $0.65 zone, which marks the last lower high of the prior downtrend. Bulls tested this supply zone but faced immediate rejection, leaving it unclear whether buyers have the conviction to breach resistance decisively.

    Source: $RUNE/USDT on TradingView

    On-chain and derivative metrics offer mixed signals. Cumulative Volume Delta (CVD) data shows aggressive accumulation, with 1.78 million $RUNE bought on Binance as of press time. Meanwhile, a Sentiment reading of 80 indicates the crowd is convinced the rally is sustainable. Yet the move remains largely sentiment-driven, raising the risk of a short-lived spike if the market structure fails to confirm a trend change.

    Key Takeaways

    • $RUNE surged over 26% in 24 hours after the THORChain v3.20 upgrade, leading all top-200 crypto assets.
    • The upgrade enables direct swaps for Monero (XMR) and Zcash (ZEC) into BTC, ETH, and stablecoins, expanding THORChain’s user base.
    • Short liquidations were extreme, with shorts liquidated at roughly 10x the volume of longs.
    • Price remains below the critical $0.65 resistance; a successful flip to support would confirm a structural shift to bullish.
    • CVD and sentiment data show strong buying interest, but sustainability depends on whether the rally transitions from sentiment-driven to structure-confirmed.
  • Grayscale Says Zcash Can Challenge Bitcoin’s Network Effects as Privacy Demand Grows

    Grayscale Says Zcash Can Challenge Bitcoin’s Network Effects as Privacy Demand Grows

    Grayscale Research Positions Zcash as Potential Bitcoin Challenger Amid AI Privacy Concerns

    Zcash could emerge as a meaningful competitor to Bitcoin’s dominance among digital assets as rapid artificial intelligence adoption increases demand for financial privacy and raises concerns over AI-powered surveillance, according to a new research report from Grayscale.

    Second-Mover Advantages in Privacy Technology

    Grayscale head of research Zach Pandl argues that Zcash ($ZEC) possesses “second mover advantages” that could help it challenge Bitcoin’s (BTC) entrenched network effects—a feat previous alternatives such as Litecoin (LTC) have failed to achieve. Central to Pandl’s argument is financial privacy: Zcash’s ability to shield transaction information could become increasingly valuable as AI systems grow more capable of analyzing financial activity at scale.

    Valuation Gap Suggests Upside Potential

    The report follows a roughly 19-fold increase in $ZEC over the past year. Despite those gains, Zcash remains valued at less than 1% of Bitcoin’s market capitalization, a disparity Grayscale sees as evidence of further upside if Zcash can capture market share. The research notes that Zcash could be valued at more than $4,000 if its market capitalization reached 5% of Bitcoin’s. Source: Grayscale

    Pandl acknowledged that Bitcoin’s liquidity and entrenched network remain powerful defenses of its dominant position. Grayscale also warned that Zcash remains a high-risk investment and that any further gains could be volatile and uneven.

    Institutional Capital Flows Into Zcash Ecosystem

    Interest in the Zcash ecosystem is broadening alongside $ZEC‘s strong price performance. Nasdaq-listed privacy technology company Cypherpunk Technologies recently expanded its Zcash exposure by acquiring a mining fleet from Winklevoss Capital in a $33.33 million equity-based transaction.

    The operation is already online across U.S. facilities, producing about 4.2 GSol/s of Equihash hashrate, or roughly 18% of the Zcash network’s total computing power. Cypherpunk said the deal made its mining arm the network’s largest active fleet.

  • Zcash (ZEC) Price Rise Is a Red Flag for Bitcoin (BTC), Warns CryptoQuant Analyst

    Zcash (ZEC) Price Rise Is a Red Flag for Bitcoin (BTC), Warns CryptoQuant Analyst

    The rapid ascent of the privacy-centric cryptocurrency Zcash (ZEC) is raising alarms among on-chain analysts, who view the sudden rally as a significant warning sign for Bitcoin (BTC). While spot exchange-traded funds (ETFs) recently drew retail capital into the digital asset space, researchers have flagged critical signs of overheating in the cryptocurrency derivatives market.

    Historical market cycles point to a troubling trend: unusual surges in Zcash during periods when the leading cryptocurrency is consolidating have often served as a reliable leading indicator of an impending market-wide correction. According to recent data from CryptoQuant, the Zcash risk metric has climbed into extreme territory, flashing a clear warning signal for Bitcoin investors. This altcoin rally is unfolding while Bitcoin remains bound within a trading range of $60,000 to $80,000, struggling to break out past its previous highs.

    Analyst Warnings and Historical Patterns

    CryptoQuant analyst Maartun highlighted the suddenness of the move, pointing out that the privacy coin “just ripped 70% in a matter of days,” which has left him “more worried about Bitcoin than excited about Zcash” given the current structure of the market. According to the analyst, this exact technical signal has historically occurred right before major pullbacks in the market’s leading asset.

    Derivative Market Overheating and Volume Drop

    Technical data from CoinGlass supports these warnings of local overheating. Over a 24-hour window, Zcash trading volumes dropped significantly, with spot trading volume falling by 24.97% and derivatives volume shrinking by 24.16%. This suggests that the initial institutional excitement surrounding Zcash ETF developments has already been priced in, driving a price correction down to $779.38.

    Additionally, short-term activity in the futures market shows sharp divergence. In the four-hour timeframe, futures selling escalated rapidly, jumping by 101.68%. At the same time, leveraged trading remains highly elevated, with $1.53 billion in borrowed capital locked in Zcash margin positions. This leverage represents over 11% of the asset’s total market capitalization, which currently stands at $13.13 billion.

    Critical Views and Liquidation Risks

    The debate surrounding this rally is further intensified by commentary from Alex Thorn, the head of research at Galaxy Digital. Thorn voiced strong skepticism about the long-term viability and utility of the ecosystem. He criticized traders who chose to “pump ZEC because it’s ‘private bitcoin’” and went on to explain that account-based blockchains are “privacy nightmares” by design, arguing that they are “substantially less private than UTXO-based chains like bitcoin.”

    If the high concentration of leveraged positions—represented by the $1.53 billion futures overhang—begins to trigger forced liquidations, it could set off a domino effect across major crypto derivatives exchanges. Because Bitcoin is currently experiencing a lack of strong buying momentum within its current consolidation range, sudden panic in the derivatives space coupled with a broad liquidity drain could serve as the catalyst for a deeper market-wide correction, forcing investors to quickly transition into a risk-off posture.