Zcash is often advertised as “crypto Bitcoin,” but its market capitalization is only about $3 billion, about 1/280 of Bitcoin’s $1.3 trillion.
In an exclusive interview with 99bitcoins, Arjun Khemani, advisor to the Winklevoss-backed Zcash Cypherpunk project, discusses the state of cryptocurrency privacy.
Their position is clear: without digital privacy there is no free future.
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1. Is privacy alone a multi-billion dollar narrative for Zcash price?
Those influencing the ZEC often argue that mandatory privacy could unlock orders of magnitude growth, while critics point out that 95% of the ZEC remains transparent by default and that regulatory pressure is intensifying.
But according to jemaniOptional shielding for Zcash really means optional transparency: private by default, supported when needed.
“I don’t think Zcash is a billion-dollar narrative. It’s a trillion-dollar asset. It’s not a trade, it’s not a narrative; I want it to be the global internet account that the world transacts on.
Encrypted money is needed for an open society in the digital age.”
Add in Zcash’s clear scaling roadmap and SNARK-level privacy and you have a realistic thesis of over $100 billion.
2. What is the realistic roadmap for quantum resistance?
Zcash proponents (such as Thor Torrens) claim that zk-SNARKs give it a quantum advantage by keeping protected data off the ledger. The Halo 2-based Tachyon update is positioned as the long-term solution. Meanwhile, Bitcoin has no answer to the quantum threat.
Khemani argues that Zcash already has an advantage: today, if its protected address is not known, its long-term storage is effectively quantum from a privacy point of view.
“This year, Tachyon offers full post-quantum privacy even if the address is exposed, plus quantum recoverability: freezing the vulnerable pool, migrating coins to a quantum-safe one. By 2027-2028 we aim to achieve full quantum proof.”
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3. Why is Monero the leader in the short term and can Zcash catch up?
Monero seems stronger on the surface: higher market cap, higher usage, rabidly decentralized developers. But your privacy is basically a sleight of hand, Khemani says.
The AI will eat ring signatures for breakfast. Zcash took the hard way: real encryption, no “ball under the cup” to find.
4. How will the ZEC development structure and 2026 updates restore trust?
The entire Electric Coin Company team moved into wallet development in January 2026, FUDing ZEC hard. The Zcash Foundation’s response has been to replace the zcashd node with Zebra, implement the Z3 stack, and integrate FROST multi-signature technology.
“I can’t say much about the ECC thing yet, but I do know that what they are trying to do will be amazing for Zcash and for Sashi coin holders and wallet users…
“They want to become a startup… you need a market-based structure for these things to really scale, it will be super optimistic.”
ZEC armored supply is stabilizing around 5,000 ZEC and has not retreated in this bear market, showing that users still care about private transactions.
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5. What price will ZCash reach in 2026?
ZEC plummeted from $720 in November 2025 to $250 now. 99Bitcoins analysts see a double top pattern targeting $163. Risk-free rotation, low liquidity and team exodus fueled the decline. What solves this?
“I can’t predict the price and I don’t intend to. ZEC only recovers if we build through the chaos: scale it, make it quantum-resistant, connect it to the real world, and treat privacy as critical infrastructure,” Khemani said.
If it becomes a truly global unit of account, today’s drop will seem like background noise.
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Key takeaways
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Zcash is often advertised as “crypto Bitcoin,” but its market capitalization is only about $3 billion, about 1/280 of Bitcoin’s $1.3 trillion.
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The protected ZEC supply is stabilizing around 5,000 ZEC and has not retreated in this bear market, showing that users still care about private transactions. .
The post 99Bitcoins Exclusive: ‘Zcash Price Isn’t a Billionaire Narrative: It’s a Trillion Dollars’ appeared first on 99Bitcoins.
