Bloomberg analyst casts Zcash as a threat to bitcoin

Balchunas warns Zcash’s push could split support for bitcoin.

The aggressive promotion of Zcash could splinter the community just when bitcoin needs unified support, said Bloomberg analyst Eric Balchunas.

Zcash has third party candidate vibes, like Gary Johnson or Jill Stein. Seems like you better off folding in their ideas to the main party vs splitting the vote, which could have major consequences, especially in such a crucial time for btc. I don’t get it. I’m just an ETF guy… https://t.co/5RMyJl3sUj

— Eric Balchunas (@EricBalchunas) November 22, 2025

“Zcash feels like a third-party candidate such as Gary Johnson or Jill Stein. It seems better to integrate their ideas into the main party rather than split the vote, which could have serious consequences, especially at such a crucial time for bitcoin. I don’t get it. Though I’m just an ETF guy,” he wrote.

Critics countered that the Zerocash architecture powering Zcash was originally proposed as an add-on for the first cryptocurrency. Developers rejected the idea, so the project launched separately.

“That really weakens my position. Fair point,” — acknowledged Balchunas in response.

The tussle between bitcoin maximalists and advocates of the privacy coin has flared amid ZEC’s sharp rise and the hype around the asset.

Over the past month, the token’s price has almost doubled. At the peak it topped $720. At the time of writing ZEC trades around ~$530.

Zcash’s market capitalisation has risen to $8.8bn. That puts it 20th among the largest cryptocurrencies, according to CoinGecko.

Bitcoin’s price fell 22% over the same period — from about $115,000 to about $86,800.

Manufactured hype

Some experts see the burst of interest in Zcash as manufactured. Investor Mark Moss reinforced those doubts by posting a screenshot of a marketing agency’s offer for paid promotion of the cryptocurrency.

Wonder why ZCash is showing up EVERYwhere all of a sudden? 👇 pic.twitter.com/1WMcu0jx8x

— Mark Moss (@1MarkMoss) November 20, 2025

In an email, a certain Tom Benny asked Moss to record an Instagram video about the anonymous coin, describing it as “bitcoin with the superpower of privacy”.

Analyst Rajat Soni flagged sensational headlines such as: “Fidelity forecasts Zcash to $100,000.” In his view, the frenzy looks like an attempt to “find exit liquidity”.

Scammers

This is why I will never buy Zcash

They need exit liquidity

Buy at your own risk

You might get dumped on the second you own it https://t.co/inAeoPWyGc pic.twitter.com/9OweOupvrn

— Rajat Soni, CFA (@Rajatsoni) November 16, 2025

Security

VanEck chief Jan van Eck, in an interview with CNBC, questioned bitcoin’s resilience to quantum computing. The technology, he said, poses a serious threat to the cryptocurrency’s encryption and privacy.

However, the expert acknowledged that the company still believes in digital gold and “will abandon it only if it deems its fundamental concept compromised”.

Van Eck also stressed that many veterans and maximalists have started paying attention to Zcash in search of greater transaction privacy.

Many disagreed with him. JAN3 CEO Samson Mow noted that he and other supporters of the first cryptocurrency look at the privacy coin “only to roll our eyes at it”.

We are only looking at Zcash to roll our eyes at it. https://t.co/4ZVYe5H4zf

— Samson Mow (@Excellion) November 23, 2025

Timestamp founder and CEO Arman Megeryan said he does not know a single bitcoin enthusiast “who even thinks about Zcash”.

Blockstream co-founder and cypherpunk Adam Back has called the quantum threat exaggerated.

Earlier, analyst Willy Woo proposed a way to protect the first cryptocurrency from the new technology.