ZEC plummets 25% but still "holding on": Why do Zcash miners and users continue to bet on the privacy coin?

February 11 News, Privacy cryptocurrency Zcash (ZEC) continues to weaken amid rising market risk aversion, with this month’s decline exceeding 25%. In January, ZEC plummeted over 41%, continuing a downward trend since 2026. As of press time, ZEC is priced at approximately $227.22, down another 4.29% in the past 24 hours.

Looking back at its performance, ZEC surged over 440% in October 2025 against the trend, becoming one of the few strong assets at that time. Despite volatile swings in November and December, it ultimately closed slightly higher. However, after entering 2026, global risk assets came under pressure, coupled with rumors of Electric Coin Company (ECC) parting ways with Bootstrap, which significantly cooled market sentiment and led to persistent selling pressure on ZEC.

Notably, while the price has weakened, on-chain data presents a different picture. After a brief dip in early January, holdings in the shielded pool have rebounded. Currently, over 5 million ZEC are stored in shielded addresses, accounting for about 30% of circulating supply. Analysts point out that this indicates genuine user activity with privacy transfers still occurring daily. Even if these transactions are not purely speculative, they demonstrate real demand for privacy features.

Signals from the miners also reflect this trend. In early February, Zcash mining difficulty hit a record high, indicating continuous growth in total network hash rate and enhanced network security. Although higher difficulty compresses individual miner rewards, the influx of hash power suggests some miners still see long-term profitability, possibly driven by lower electricity costs, scaled operations, or expectations of future price recovery.

In contrast to falling prices and strengthening network metrics, ZEC exhibits a structural divergence: solid fundamentals paired with weak market sentiment. For investors focused on the privacy sector and miner behavior, Zcash’s next move may depend on macroeconomic conditions and shifts in risk appetite within the crypto market.