Zcash climbed 23% over 24 hours to approximately $1,369 on Thursday as bitcoin and other major cryptocurrencies advanced alongside recovering global stock futures following the Federal Reserve's first interest-rate increase since 2023.
Bitcoin edged up less than 1% to about $76,258. Solana gained nearly 3% to just below $100, while BNB and HYPE, the token of trading platform Hyperliquid, each added more than 2%. Ether, XRP and dogecoin rose between 1% and 2%.
The Zcash rally coincided with comments from Matt Huang, co-founder of crypto investment firm Paradigm, who disclosed that his firm holds ZEC and described the token as "a private complement to Bitcoin" in a post on X.
Huang also called for continued funding for Zcash developers and argued that holder votes on protocol changes should be combined with other governance mechanisms.
Separately, Zcash holders recently backed proposals to accelerate transaction speeds while maintaining scheduled reductions in new coin issuance, a feature it shares with bitcoin.
On Wednesday, the Federal Reserve raised its benchmark rate by a quarter percentage point to a range of 3.75% to 4%. The Fed's median projection placed the policy rate at 4.1% at the end of both 2026 and 2027, implying one further quarter-point increase this year.
Higher rates typically make borrowing more expensive and can reduce capital available for speculative investments, while increasing the appeal of interest-paying assets relative to non-yielding cryptocurrencies like bitcoin. However, markets appeared reassured that the Fed was not signaling an aggressive tightening cycle.
Jeff Ko, chief analyst at ViaBTC, said the rate increase was largely priced in. "To me, the Fed is signaling that it does not currently envisage an aggressive tightening cycle, while markets appear reassured by its efforts to contain inflation," he said.
Equity markets followed a similar upbeat tone. S&P 500 futures rose 0.6%, Nasdaq 100 futures gained 0.7%, and Asian equities added 0.3%. The two-year Treasury yield eased two basis points to 4.71% after touching its highest level since 2024 in the previous session.
