Zcash Explodes to $700, Breaks Into Top 20 Coins as PEPENODE Presale Soars

It’s been a brutal week in the crypto market. Bitcoin briefly slipped below $100,000 today and is still struggling just above that level, while Ethereum and Solana have both shed double-digit percentages over the past seven days.

The risk-off sentiment is clear, with traders retreating from speculative positions and volatility surging across the board. It’s a classic flight to safety.

But there’s one niche that’s cutting through all the bearishness: privacy coins. For example, Zcash (ZEC) surged past $700 today and has muscled its way into the top 12 cryptocurrencies by market cap.

Another project still performing well is PEPENODE (PEPENODE), a meme coin in presale that’s raised over $2 million despite the market chaos. Investors are rushing to get involved in the presale while PEPENODE tokens are available at a fixed price.

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Zcash’s Incredible Run – 365% Pump in Past Month

ZEC’s price is up 82% over the past week and a staggering 350% in the past month, making it one of the top-performing altcoins in the entire market right now. That run has pushed its valuation to $11 billion, ahead of big names like Bitcoin Cash and Stellar.

Spot trading volume hit $2.8 billion in the past 24 hours – the 11th-highest globally – and open interest in futures contracts jumped another 30% to $860 million. These figures show both retail and leveraged traders are betting on further upside.

High-profile voices can’t stop talking about Zcash either. Arthur Hayes threw out a $10,000 price target for Zcash today, which sounds wild until you remember where this coin was just a few months ago.

Before August, most people had written off Zcash as dead weight. But now it’s sitting in the top 20 by market cap – proving what can happen when a forgotten altcoin catches the right narrative at the right time.

Why Zcash Is Soaring Right Now

Privacy coins are the talk of Crypto Twitter this Friday. Users and institutions are increasingly spooked by government surveillance and chain analysis tools that make Bitcoin’s transparency feel like a liability.

As a solution, Zcash’s “zk-SNARKs” technology lets users send fully shielded transactions where the sender, receiver, and amount all stay hidden. Over 30% of ZEC’s circulating supply is now held in these private pools, proving people are actually using Zcash’s tech.

Plus, there’s real development happening. The Zashi wallet launched with CrossPay support for easier payments, and Project Tachyon promises a 10-fold boost in throughput while maintaining privacy.

And the broader market backdrop helps too. ZEC’s negative correlation to BTC makes it an attractive diversification play during a period where Bitcoin is tanking. All these factors combined explain why Zcash has outpaced nearly every major altcoin in the past month.

PEPENODE Presale Holds Strong Amid Market Chaos – Over $2M Raised

Meanwhile, PEPENODE (PEPENODE) has raised over $2 million in its presale despite the market downturn. The token price is currently $0.0011363 and is set to increase again in just one day. That means now is the last chance to buy PEPENODE at the current rate.

PEPENODE combines meme coin vibes with a Mine-to-Earn platform that provides holders with something to do beyond simply waiting for price pumps. It’s a browser-based system where you deploy virtual mining nodes that generate passive crypto rewards without requiring hardware.

Buy a basic miner node with PEPENODE tokens, and it starts churning out rewards right away. You can upgrade your nodes with boosts to increase efficiency, and each upgrade burns 70% of the PEPENODE used, creating deflationary pressure.

You can even stack multiple nodes into a farm for compounded yields. And special “Meme Nodes” let you mine other well-known meme coins, such as PEPE and FARTCOIN.

If that wasn’t enough, PEPENODE’s ecosystem even has a built-in staking protocol – and it’s live while the presale is ongoing. Early investors can stake their PEPENODE right away for an APY of 621%.

No surprise then that YouTuber Crypto Tech Gaming has called PEPENODE “the future of meme coins.” So, while Zcash gets all the attention right now, lower-cap altcoins like this might be capable of producing even higher returns.