ZCash (ZEC) holders have started unshielding their coins. ZEC’s vaults are emptying, which could signal a retreat from privacy assets.
The previous trend of protecting ZEC tokens in highly private vaults has reversed in the past few weeks. around it 4.86 million Although ZEC remains protected, some of its assets were quickly withdrawn.
The shielded ZEC reflects the withdrawal of 202 million coins by one whale from Orchard’s privacy pool deposits. |Source: ZEC Dashboard
The value of shielding ZEC was supposed to usher in a new era of privacy in decentralized finance. Shield’s rapid rise coincided with ZEC’s rise last year, returning the asset to levels not seen since 2018.
ZEC whales unshield more than 1% of supply
In early January, a former Shield holder removed more than $200,000 in ZEC (worth more than $100 million) from a maximum-security ZCash vault.
whale’s Collection items is still idle, but can now be tracked. The whale used a brand new wallet with no other on-chain interactions or history. Whale previously protected 1 ZEC as a test.
The withdrawal from the more private Orchard pool also follows a decline in the supply of Sprout and Seedling pools. Overall, the trend to rush to secure more ZEC and use it as a DeFi asset has decreased.
Whale ZEC can now be traded or used as a non-privacy asset and can be re-secured if desired. The whale move also raised concerns about potential selling pressure.
ZEC expansion slows down
ZEC became one of the best-performing altcoins in 2025, temporarily driving the rise of all privacy assets. Last week, ZEC fell to $492.51, a decline of over 6.8%. IImmediately after the massive shield lift, the market went into panic mode, pushing ZEC to a local low of $484.41.
ZEC has had a tumultuous week, reacting to the news that a whale has cut off 1.2% of the coin’s circulating supply. |Source: Coin Gecko
ZEC open interest fell to $764 million, down from a peak of nearly $1 billion in 2025. ZEC is also no longer actively shorted and its open interest is more evenly divided.
Even after the recent market slowdown, ZEC remained the top privacy coin by market capitalization. While XMR stabilized around the $428 level, most traditional private coins were in the red.
For others, ZEC is still gearing up for a breakout once traders return after the holidays. One hyperliquid whale has already placed a bet, with a large ZEC spot position and a sell limit order. $509.
Based on recent liquidations heat mapZEC may fall to target accumulated long positions. The asset may also encounter resistance near the $520 level. The asset has been trading with reduced mindshare, recently falling by 67% to 0.3%.
Since privacy coins were also used in tokenized form, the ZCash community also relied on support from Solana influencers.
ZEC supporters and influencers are still pushing the narrative of replacing BTC. Even if BTC fails, ZEC is expected to outperform the market. Despite the decline in the ZEC dollar price, the asset 31% against BTC for the past month.
