Cypherpunk Technologies Chief Investment Officer Will McEvoy has declared Zcash (ZEC) the "most mispriced asset in crypto," arguing the market lacks a framework to value privacy despite growing demand driven by AI surveillance. In a detailed analysis, McEvoy positioned ZEC's current $4.4 billion market capitalization as a "rounding error" compared to the vast markets for privacy it could serve.
McEvoy's core thesis is that "privacy is the most mispriced asset in society." He built a valuation case by comparing ZEC to several benchmarks. Relative to Bitcoin's $1.45 trillion market cap, he noted that if ZEC reached just 0.5% of Bitcoin's value, its price would be $446 (1.7x higher than current). At 1%, it would imply $891, and at 5%, a price of $4,456. He summarized this as "Zcash is encrypted Bitcoin."
Comparing to the $11.3 trillion offshore wealth market, McEvoy stated, "People pay a premium for privacy. They always have. They always will." He calculated that capturing 0.1% of this market would imply a ZEC price of $680, while 1% would imply $6,804, framing it as "a Swiss bank account in your pocket." Against gold's $34.8 trillion valuation, he argued Zcash shares gold's private, holdable properties but is digital and programmable, with 0.1% penetration implying a $2,095 price.
McEvoy also highlighted Zcash's position against tracked stablecoin transactions and its competitor Monero (XMR). He argued Zcash offers "stronger cryptography, optional transparency for compliance, and better scalability" than Monero. Parity with Monero's $6.8 billion market cap would value ZEC at $410, while double would imply $819.
The analysis ties the investment case to a broader technological shift, stating, "Artificial intelligence is the attack. Zcash is the defense. AI decodes all the data. Zcash encrypts all the data." This positions ZEC's value proposition as strengthening alongside advancements in AI-driven surveillance.
This bullish outlook aligns with a separate, comprehensive Zcash price prediction analysis for 2026-2030, which highlights the coin's unique technological foundation. Zcash, launched in 2016, pioneered the use of zk-SNARKs (zero-knowledge proofs), enabling transaction verification without revealing sender, receiver, or amount details through its dual-address system.
Key factors influencing ZEC's long-term trajectory include regulatory evolution, technological upgrades like the full implementation of the Halo 2 proving system, and adoption metrics. The analysis notes increasing institutional validation, such as JPMorgan Chase integrating Zcash's underlying technology and Goldman Sachs research highlighting corporate need for transactional privacy. Regulatory frameworks in jurisdictions like Japan and South Korea are evolving toward compliance-enabled usage rather than outright prohibition, facilitated by Zcash's selective disclosure features like viewing keys.
