Zcash loses $1,000 as dormant wallets send ZEC coins to exchanges

Zcash fell below $1,000 on November 12 as leveraged traders abandoned bullish positions and selling pressure intensified.

Data from CoinMarketCap showed ZEC at approximately $965 on Nov. 12, after a 24-hour low near $953.

The decline has exposed vulnerabilities in ZEC's market structure, with research showing heavy selling across derivatives exchanges and fresh deposits from previously inactive wallets.

ZEC's $1,000 breakdown reveals heavy selling from leveraged traders.

A market investigation by Kairos Research identified the rapid closure of a 12,500 ZEC long position on Hyperliquid as a pivotal moment in the selloff.

The position, accumulated in the hour following the release of US inflation data, was closed through market orders within two seconds at 15:29:58 UTC on Nov. 10, just as Bitcoin began retreating.

ZEC subsequently fell from $1,193 to $1,001 as traders sold a net 160,000 ZEC across four perpetual futures exchanges over the following 90 minutes.

Binance accounted for 74,000 ZEC, followed by OKX with 42,000, Hyperliquid with 31,000, and Bybit with 13,000. Spot markets recorded approximately 27,000 ZEC in net taker selling.

Kairos found that traders primarily drove the selling by unwinding existing bullish positions rather than forced liquidations.

On Hyperliquid, taker sales associated with closing longs reached 109,000 ZEC between 14:30 and 17:00 UTC, compared with 50,000 ZEC from traders opening shorts. Forced liquidations accounted for only 6,900 ZEC during that period.

Coinbase had already recorded approximately 3,000 ZEC in net spot selling before the breakdown, while derivatives traders on Binance, OKX and Hyperliquid remained net buyers.

The researchers also traced Coinbase deposits and found that only about 12,000 ZEC had arrived across Nov. 9 and 10, suggesting most of the initial spot selling came from inventory already held on the exchange.

Fresh deposits from dormant wallets

However, fresh deposits accelerated after the decline.

By 18:00 UTC on Nov. 11, Coinbase had received another 16,300 ZEC, including 9,800 ZEC from three wallets that had been inactive since withdrawing funds from Coinbase Prime in November and December 2025.

Those wallets still held approximately 19,000 ZEC, while Binance received another 8,600 ZEC in large deposits over the same period.

The combined 24,900 ZEC in new exchange deposits raises the prospect of additional spot selling, although transfers alone do not establish an intention to liquidate.

ETF outflows and network upgrades

The selling pressure has also extended to Grayscale's Zcash ETF, ZCSH, which is heading toward its second consecutive week of net withdrawals.

Data from SoSoValue showed that the fund recorded approximately $13 million in outflows during the week ending Nov. 6, followed by another $17 million this week.

The combined withdrawals are approaching $30 million.

The fund's cumulative net inflows have fallen to $192 million, while total net assets have also declined to $562 million from about $772 million at the end of the previous week.

However, Kairos found no evidence that fresh ETF redemptions caused the initial Nov. 10 selloff.

ZCSH traded 2.46 million shares that day without recording new creations or redemptions, while 1,861 ZEC transferred into Coinbase Prime represented settlement of an earlier withdrawal.

Despite the market downturn, Zcash continues to attract institutional backing amid growing interest in financial privacy, particularly as artificial intelligence expands the ability to analyze transactions on public blockchains.

Grayscale has emerged as a prominent advocate of this investment thesis, arguing that privacy could become an increasingly valuable feature of digital money.

In a research report, the asset manager said Zcash's monthly active developer population had roughly doubled over two years, while developer participation in the broader cryptocurrency industry has retreated from its previous peak.

The firm also found that approximately 70% of Zcash's active developers had more than one year of cryptocurrency development experience, compared with 58% across the industry.

Grayscale believes the expanding contributor base could improve wallet usability, network security and privacy infrastructure, eventually supporting higher ZEC valuations.

The bullish outlook also reflects progress in the network's development.

Zcash activated its NU7 upgrade on Nov. 6, reducing its target block interval from 75 seconds to 25 seconds and introducing changes designed to improve private payment processing.

Meanwhile, data from Zcash's shielded supply tracker showed that approximately 5 million ZEC, representing more than 29% of circulating supply, was held in shielded pools as of Nov. 10.

Grayscale has reinforced its bullish thesis with a $1 million commitment to the Zcash ecosystem, including $400,000 already awarded to four development and advocacy organizations.

The firm also launched a nationwide advertising campaign featuring a prominent Wall Street Journal promotion and a dedicated investment education platform.

It intends to reinvest sponsor fees collected from ZCSH into network development, marketing, and education for up to the fund's first year as an exchange-traded product.

Nonetheless, Grayscale's investments and Zcash's growing developer community have yet to reverse the deterioration in investor demand. With the fund approaching $30 million in withdrawals over two weeks and previously inactive wallets still holding another 19,000 ZEC, renewed selling could further test the cryptocurrency's ability to recover above $1,000.