Privacy token Zcash surged 23% over the past 24 hours as bitcoin and other major cryptocurrencies rose overnight into Asian morning hours Thursday, alongside a recovery in stock futures following the Federal Reserve’s first interest-rate increase since 2023.
$ZEC traded near $1,369, while bitcoin edged up less than 1% to about $76,258. Solana gained nearly 3% to just below $100. BNB and HYPE, the token of crypto trading platform Hyperliquid, added more than 2%, while ether, XRP and dogecoin rose between 1% and 2%.
$ZEC’s surge coincided with comments from Matt Huang, co-founder of prominent crypto investment firm Paradigm, who discussed its role as a privacy complement to bitcoin and disclosed that his firm owns $ZEC, per an X post.
Zcash lets users send money without publicly revealing who paid whom or how much. Its holders recently backed proposals to make payments faster while keeping scheduled cuts to the creation of new coins, a feature it shares with bitcoin.
Huang, whose firm owns $ZEC, described Zcash as “a private complement to Bitcoin.” He supported continued funding for its developers, while arguing that votes by coin holders should be combined with other ways of deciding changes to the network.
The broader crypto rebound came after the Fed raised its benchmark rate by a quarter percentage point to a range of 3.75% to 4%.
Higher rates make borrowing more expensive and can reduce the money available for speculative investments. They also increase the appeal of interest-paying cash and government debt relative to bitcoin, which pays no income simply for holding it.
An expected increase can still be followed by rising crypto prices if investors become less concerned about how much further rates will climb. The Fed’s median projection put the policy rate at 4.1% at the end of both 2026 and 2027, consistent with one further quarter-point increase this year.
Jeff Ko, chief analyst at ViaBTC, said in an email that Wednesday’s increase was largely priced in.
“To me, the Fed is signaling that it does not currently envisage an aggressive tightening cycle, while markets appear reassured by its efforts to contain inflation.”
S&P 500 futures rose 0.6% and Nasdaq 100 futures gained 0.7%, while Asian equities added 0.3%. The two-year Treasury yield, which is sensitive to expectations for Fed policy, eased two basis points to 4.71% after reaching its highest since 2024 during the previous session.