Zcash (ZEC), the largest privacy-centric cryptocurrency and the biggest surprise of 2025, has already outshined all competitors by growth rates — even those who renewed their ATHs in crucial metrics. At the same time, interest from retail users is yet to be seen, Delphi Digital data says.
Zcash (ZEC) crypto outshines all rivals, but retail interest is not there: Data
Zcash (ZEC), a flagship crypto of the Q4, 2025 privacy season, still has not caught mainstream attention. In Google Searches, the interest in ZEC's price is still lagging behind similar metrics for XRP and Solana (SOL), top-tier research platform Delphi Digital says in a report.
This imbalance is striking as Zcash (ZEC) is the absolute best performer amid all large-caps and mid-caps, while Solana (SOL) and XRP are stagnating. Solana's (SOL) price lost 28.16% in just one month and plunged to levels unseen since mid-June.
XRP, despite the successful launch of a spot XRP ETF in the U.S., is down by 7.71% in the last month. Last week, its price also dropped to $2.15, the lowest since June.
At the same time, both are significantly more popular on Google than ZEC, which is an indicator of retail's stance on the privacy coin's rally.
As a result, it looks like the marvelous Zcash (ZEC) price action is mostly driven by whales and large holders, not by the general public. Meanwhile, the general interest in crypto is at multi-year lows on Google Trends, which might also contribute to the strange picture of searches for altcoin prices.
Zcash (ZEC) price jumped by 20x in three months on anemic market
Zcash (ZEC), a fork of Bitcoin (BTC) and one of the cypherpunks' privacy-focused cryptocurrencies — which means untraceable transactions — is the best performer of Q4, 2025. In just three months, it rocketed by 20x from $35 to over $700.
Today its price hit a local high at $718, which is close to an unbelievable nine-year record. However, ZEC's price still remains 90% down from its ATH.
To provide context, Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH) lost 14% and 22% in the last 30 days, respectively.
As U.Today previously covered, institutional investors are trying to benefit from the ZEC rally.
It is fueled by Winklevoss Capital's $59 million investments, Nasdaq-listed penny stock company Leap Therapeutics rebranded to Cypherpunk Technologies and the first-ever digital asset treasury company with ZCash (ZEC) holdings.
Dan Burgin
Vladislav Sopov
U.Today Editorial Team