Key Points
Many major crypto insiders are bullish on privacy coins lately.
Zcash's regulatory risks are lower than before, but still substantial.
It's probably the case that privacy coins like Zcash and Monero will steal some capital share from Bitcoin.
- 10 stocks we like better than Zcash ›
Barry Silbert is the founder of Digital Currency Group, which owns Grayscale, one of the largest crypto asset managers. The crypto industry heavyweight declared on X (formerly Twitter) on May 24 that crypto's "privacy era" has begun.
That's a bold claim from a powerful industry insider with a direct stake; Grayscale recently filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to convert its Zcash (CRYPTO: ZEC) Trust into the first U.S. spot exchange-traded fund (ETF) for a privacy coin.
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What's more, at Bitcoin Investor Week in February, Silbert predicted that between 5% and 10% of Bitcoin capital would rotate into privacy-focused crypto like Zcash and Monero (CRYPTO: XMR), arguing that Bitcoin will never be able to offer privacy.
Let's vet what Silbert is claiming and figure out the best course of action to capitalize on what he sees.
Image source: Getty Images.
Silbert's bet looks fairly plausible
Bitcoin's market cap is $1.5 trillion as of this writing on May 27. A 5% to 10% rotation implies $76 billion to $150 billion in capital seeking a home.
Yet Zcash has a market cap of around $9.5 billion, and Monero has a market cap of around $7 billion, so even a fraction of that flow would dwarf the existing market segment and likely lead to its leaders (those two coins and just a couple of others) multiplying in value.
The odds of a major capital rotation into privacy assets have improved, at least for Zcash. The SEC closed a two-year investigation into the Zcash Foundation in January without pursuing enforcement, removing a major regulatory overhang.
Separately, players with plenty of capital are publicly investing in Zcash. Multicoin Capital disclosed a significant Zcash position in May, and a digital asset treasury (DAT) company backed by Winklevoss Capital has been accumulating it since late 2025, targeting an allocation that's 5% of the coin's total supply.
As for the claim that Bitcoin won't ever offer any privacy features, Silbert is almost certainly correct in practice. Major overhauls of the chain are theoretically possible, but adding privacy features would change the nature of what Bitcoin is so radically that it probably won't ever be attempted.
If this is a new era, it's still early
Privacy assets have been popular lately and will likely become even more so in the future, as financial surveillance worldwide expands. That doesn't guarantee these early moments of the privacy era will yield good returns for those who buy the leading privacy coins right this second, though I'm banking on it.
Zcash has already rallied 949% from its 12-month low. Much of the optimism about its future success may be baked into its current valuation.
So even if Silbert is probably correct that we're entering the privacy era, don't bet the farm on it being a gold rush in the near term. Buying a small amount of assets like Zcash in the riskiest segment of your portfolio is the best way to get exposure to the upside if he's right.
Should you buy stock in Zcash right now?
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Alex Carchidi has positions in Bitcoin and Zcash. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Bitcoin. The Motley Fool recommends Monero. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.
