Bitcoin Whales Pushed Colleagues to Buy Zcash Before Its Explosive Rally

Whales who have traded Bitcoin since 2013 privately urged Dan Held, a former Kraken head of marketing, to buy Zcash (ZEC) between $100 and $400 over three to six months. These messages came from investors with eight- and nine-figure net worths who funded the trade by trimming a fifth to an eighth of their long-term Bitcoin holdings.

Held, who bought his first Bitcoin in 2012, still views the timing skeptically. He argued that crypto narratives typically form only after an asset has already moved, not before it. This pattern looks familiar in Zcash's case as well, he said.

Zcash has since crossed $1,000 last week, its first time above that level in nearly a decade. Rising Zcash ETF inflows into Grayscale's ZCSH fund have added to the rally's momentum.