Grayscale (Grayscale) in its Currencies sector named four types of crypto assets truly born for "digital currency use," and singled out Zcash as the one with the greatest growth potential among them.
Grayscale research head Zach Pandl believes that as market demand for private digital payments rises, Zcash could gradually erode Bitcoin's massive market share.
Grayscale lists Bitcoin, Litecoin, XRP and Zcash as the main assets in the Currencies Crypto Sector. The entire sector contains about 15 cryptocurrencies, with a combined market value of about $1.6 trillion, of which Bitcoin accounts for nearly 90% of the value.
Litecoin and XRP have spent years packaging themselves as faster, cheaper supporting alternatives, but neither has truly shaken Bitcoin's position. Take XRP as an example: although it is one of the largest assets by market value in the crypto market, its market value is still only a small fraction of Bitcoin's.
The reason Zcash gives is relatively different: its core selling point is a capability that Bitcoin, XRP and Litecoin do not have by default—private transactions.
Zcash uses a zero-knowledge proof technology called zk-SNARKs, allowing users to hide transaction amounts and wallet information. By mid-2026, about 90% of Zcash transactions used shielded transfers. Grayscale believes that as digital surveillance methods become increasingly sophisticated, this rising adoption rate is becoming more and more important.
The market has already reacted somewhat. Zcash's market value rose from about $4 billion in March to about $24.27 billion currently, but it is still less than 1% of Bitcoin's valuation of about $1.56 trillion.
ZEC is currently quoted at about $1,431, with a gain of nearly 19 times over the past year. This round of gains makes Grayscale's judgment harder to ignore, but it also raises an obvious question: after such a huge rise, is Zcash still an overlooked challenger, or has the market already begun to price in the "privacy narrative"?
