• Zcash surges 20x in 2025, rising from $35 to over $700, driven by strong institutional demand.
• Retail awareness remains low, with Google searches far behind Solana and XRP despite massive price gains.
• Institutional investments fuel growth, including $59M from Winklevoss Capital and the launch of ZEC-focused treasury management.

Zcash (ZEC), the most popular privacy-centric cryptocurrency, is one of the largest surprises of 2025 so far. The success of ZEC surpasses all other large and middle-market assets, including those coins that recently hit new highs. At the same time, Zcash’s success hasn’t led to popular attention being drawn to the asset, as evidenced by the latest research by Delphi Digital.

Zcash Surges While Solana and XRP Struggle

According to the latest report by Delphi Digital, there is a huge discrepancy between ZEC price activity and public recognition. ZEC may be considered the most successful asset for the 2025 privacycoin season, as Google Search metrics show significantly fewer searches for ZEC than Solana (SOL) and XRP.

This contrast is important, as Solana and XRP have both been struggling. Solana is down 28.16% over the last month, hitting a level it hasn’t seen since June 15. XRP, following the approval of the spot ETF in the U.S., is down 7.71% over the last month and touched $2.15, the lowest level seen since June.

Despite this evident underperformance, both of these assets are still much more popular in search terms than ZEC. This is an indication that retail investors are yet to follow the rally in ZEC.

Zcash Climbs 20x Despite Low Visibility

The lack of retail is an indication that the significant growth witnessed by ZEC is probably being fueled by whales and not the general public. The overall search for crypto prices on Google Trends is also recorded to have declined to multi-year lows.

The reason for this discrepancy between ZEC’s significant price jump and lack of visibility among common citizens is probably due to this overall trend.

Zcash, which is a Bitcoin fork with fully private and non-traceable transaction capabilities, has led the last quarter of 2025 so far. Within only three months, the price appreciated from $35 to over $700, exhibiting an extraordinary growth of 20x.

The cryptocurrency touched a new local high of $718, almost reaching the nine-year price high. Notwithstanding this latest price surge, ZEC is still positioned 90% lower than its all-time high, clearly showing how low the previous price fall was.

However, the overall market remains somewhat weak. Bitcoin is down 14% in the last 30 days, and Ethereum is down 22%, which makes Zcash’s drastic increase all the more astonishing.

Also Read | Zcash Skyrockets 17%: Explosive Momentum Targets $700–755 Next

Institutional Momentum Sends Zcash Sharply Higher

There is now an influx of institutional activities, which is propelling ZEC’s price upwards. The $59 million funding by Winklevoss Capital, Leap Therapeutics’ renaming as Cypherpunk Technologies, and the founding of the first ZEC-centric crypto treasury management company are some of the factors drawing renewed interest to private coins.

The breakout of Zcash in 2025 has already brought it to the forefront as this year’s best-performing currency, mainly due to institutional-level investments and the renewed interest in privacy coins. But considering that retail participation is still lightyears away, there may still be more upside potential if general interest is directed at ZEC.

Also Read | Zcash Eyes $780 as Winklevoss Twins Launch Cypherpunk Treasury