Uniswap and Zcash Outpace Bitcoin as Robinhood Chain Growth Boosts Uniswap

Uniswap (UNI) and Zcash (ZEC) have surged ahead of major cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin in early trading, driven by different factors. UNI rose 18.1% in 24 hours, while ZEC gained 8.4%, outpacing the flat performance of BTC.

The growth of Robinhood Chain is behind Uniswap's rally. The protocol handles most of the trading on the chain, and its total value locked (TVL) has rebounded to around $3.9 billion from about $3 billion in August. Additionally, a small portion of fees, around 7.9%, is burnt and distributed to UNI token holders.

ZEC's latest leg up followed 21Shares' launch of a Zcash exchange-traded product (ETP) in Europe on Tuesday. The ETP is physically backed by ZEC and has a fee of 2.50%. This move is seen as a play on financial privacy and post-quantum security, with Zcash combining 'Bitcoin's capped supply with optional privacy.'

Despite the rallies, traders are cautious about how much leverage they're willing to put behind these tokens. CoinGlass data showed that ZEC open interest is nearly three times UNI's, but its market cap is around $27.5 billion, and its open interest is about 12% of that.