Zcash (CRYPTO: ZEC) is up 780% year-over-year, with Arthur Hayes betting big on privacy coins becoming 2026’s dominant narrative, all the while established altcoins Solana (CRYPTO: SOL) and Cardano (CRYPTO: ADA) underperform.

Hayes’ Privacy Bet

The former BitMEX CEO said in his latest essay that his fund, Maelstrom, went heavily long ZEC after accumulating positions in Q3 2025, wagering that privacy will emerge as crypto’s dominant narrative this year.

“This year’s dominant narrative will surround privacy. ZEC will become the privacy beta,” Hayes wrote in his latest essay. 

“To obtain outperformance versus Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) and Ethereum (CRYPTO: ETH), I will sell BTC to fund…

Read more on Benzinga