Zcash drops 21% from recent highs amid ETF outflows and suspected North Korean funds routed through its privacy pool.
Macro & Markets ·
Zcash has declined roughly 21% from its late-September peak of $1,698, currently trading around $1,333.50 after climbing approximately 253% from a $480.72 base. The pullback follows Grayscale's Zcash ETF recording a $30.25 million net outflow on September 30, though the fund has accumulated nearly $268 million in cumulative net inflows since its August 25 launch. Sentiment has also been pressured by a reported $387 million theft from the Bitget exchange on September 24, with the exchange's leadership attributing the attack to methods consistent with North Korean hacker groups, pending formal attribution.
Blockchain investigator ZachXBT identified approximately 2,746 ZEC—valued at roughly $3.9 million—moving from addresses linked to the hack into Zcash's shielded pool, where transaction details remain hidden. While the investigator's flag came after the hack itself, the flow through Zcash's privacy mechanisms adds reputational friction for an asset seeking institutional adoption.
Technical analysis suggests mixed conditions. The Relative Strength Index at 50.2 indicates neutral momentum, while the Average Directional Index measures a strong trend at 52.0, though this largely reflects prior gains. The 50-day exponential moving average remains above the 200-day level, keeping the longer-term structure bullish on paper. Historical precedent offers some perspective: Zcash dropped from $635 to an intraday low of $309 in June following disclosure of a critical vulnerability, only to later climb past $1,600.