Zcash rose approximately 20% in 24 hours after Paradigm co-founder Matt Huang disclosed the firm holds an undisclosed position in the privacy-focused cryptocurrency.
ZEC traded around $1,338 on Thursday. Huang said Wednesday that Paradigm is an investor in the Zcash Open Development Lab (ZODL) and a holder of ZEC tokens. Huang described Zcash as a "private complement to Bitcoin" and said he supports combining Zcash coin voting with other governance mechanisms to reduce unpredictability as a monetary asset.
The token's surge extends ZEC's one-month gain to roughly 160%, compared with Bitcoin's 18.2% rise over the same period, according to CoinGecko data.
Huang also backed the protocol's inflation-funded developer fund, arguing that long-term funding remains critical as AI-driven cyber capabilities and quantum computing advance.
Paradigm's involvement in the broader Zcash ecosystem was already public. In March, ZODL announced a seed round exceeding $25 million that included investments from Paradigm, Andreessen Horowitz Crypto, Coinbase Ventures and Winklevoss Capital.
The move comes as the wider crypto market advanced after the Federal Reserve raised interest rates by 25 basis points to 3.75%-4%, its first increase since 2023.
Privacy coins have substantially outperformed the broader market. Data from Glassnode showed the sector stood more than 213% above its level at Bitcoin's October 2025 peak, while a basket excluding Zcash rose about 85% over the past year.
