Zcash News Today: ZEC Falls for a Third Day to $1,424 as Longs Unwind Ahead of the NU7 Code Deadline

Last Updated: September 29, 2026

Zcash traded near $1,424 on September 29, down 7.84% over 24 hours and 5.33% over the past week, the largest decline among the top 17 coins on CoinMarketCap while Bitcoin gained 1.77%. It is ZEC’s third straight losing day and leaves the token about 13% below Friday’s price, CoinDesk reported. ZEC fell as low as $1,356 as traders unwound leveraged longs after a September rally, and CoinGlass recorded $28.74 million of ZEC liquidations over 12 hours, the most of any coin. The NU7 network upgrade faces its code-completion deadline on September 30.

Key Takeaways

• ZEC trades near $1,424, down 7.84% over 24 hours and 5.33% over seven days, with a market capitalization of about $24.04 billion. It dipped to $1,356 earlier today after trading as high as roughly $1,674 over the weekend.
• CoinGlass counted $28.74 million of ZEC liquidations over 12 hours, the highest of any coin. CoinDesk’s derivatives data show futures open interest falling with the price and the most negative 24-hour cumulative volume delta among majors, a sign of aggressive selling. No project-specific trigger has been reported.
• NU7 code completion is due September 30, followed by testnet activation on October 6, an activation-height decision on October 20 and a mainnet target of November 5. The Zcash ETF (ZCSH) begins trading on a 3-for-1 split-adjusted basis before the market opens on September 30.
• Zcash developers released Udon into Zakura Common on Monday, the first piece of the proposed Tachyon scaling upgrade to move into shared Zcash software. Tachyon has not been activated and still needs further development and a security review.
• ZecStats data cited by CoinDesk show shielded transactions averaging about 6,200 a day in the seven days through September 28, down from about 11,700 in the seven days through September 21.

Zcash Market Overview

Metric	Value
Price	$1,423.56
24h Change	-7.84%
7d Change	-5.33%
Market Cap	~$24.04 billion
24h Volume	~$1.85 billion
Circulating Supply	16.89 million ZEC
Max Supply	21 million ZEC

Data sourced from CoinMarketCap, midday of September 29 (UTC).

Zcash News Today: Price Analysis

ZEC’s decline ran against a market that rebounded. Bitcoin rose 1.77% and Ethereum 2.83% over the same 24 hours, and 72 of the 100 CoinDesk 100 constituents were higher in CoinDesk’s report, which named ZEC and Dash as the sharpest decliners. Monero gained 2.76% on CoinMarketCap, so the move looks tied to ZEC’s own positioning rather than to privacy coins as a group. The token roughly doubled from about $800 in the first days of September to a high near $1,674 over the weekend, and long exposure built up along the way.

FXStreet’s analysts named $1,500 as the level where bullish momentum tips, and ZEC has traded below it since late Monday. A September 28 study of OKX’s ZEC perpetual reported dollar open interest of $164.95 million, down 13.5% from $190.69 million a day earlier, although part of that drop reflects the lower price, since dollar open interest shrinks when spot falls even if the number of contracts stays fixed. TradingBeats data showed an estimated $17.5 million of long positions that would be liquidated near $1,359, and the intraday low of $1,356 came a few dollars below that cluster.

Network usage has cooled as well. ZecStats data cited by CoinDesk show the network averaged about 6,200 transactions involving shielded funds a day in the seven days through September 28, roughly half the pace of the week before. On the development side, Project Tachyon leader Sean Bowe said Udon was released into Zakura Common on Monday. Common is the shared cryptography library that Zakura and other Zcash projects use, and Udon moves parts of the proposed Tachyon scaling upgrade into it, with a long-term target of more than 50,000 private payments a second. Udon does not demonstrate Tachyon’s speed, and the upgrade itself has not been activated.

The Bitget breach adds a supply question. When Bitget raised its estimate of stolen assets from $351.6 million to $387.5 million, the increase of about $36 million came from Zcash and TRON transfers made during the original attack window. Crypto.news reported that one address holds close to 18,900 ZEC. Reports on today’s drop cite profit-taking and liquidations rather than sales from that address, though a holding of that size is one more source of potential supply for traders to watch. Our earlier report on the breach covers the initial disclosure.

The ETF share split is a separate item. The Zcash ETF, built by Grayscale under the ticker ZCSH, set a record date of September 28 and a payment date after the close on September 29 for a 3-for-1 forward split, and split-adjusted trading starts before the open on September 30. The ticker and CUSIP stay the same. A forward split changes the number of shares and the price per share, not the value of an investor’s stake.

NU7 Upgrade Timeline

Milestone	Date
Code Completion Deadline	September 30, 2026
Testnet Activation	October 6, 2026
Final Decision and Activation Height	October 20, 2026
Targeted Mainnet Activation	November 5, 2026

NU7 cuts Zcash’s target block spacing from 75 seconds to 25 seconds under ZIP-218, disables v4 transactions, keeps the halving schedule and integrates the Network Sustainability Mechanism, according to the calendar Zcash cofounder Sean Bowe posted on the Zcash Community Forum on September 17. NU7 adds no new transaction format, so wallets are not expected to need major changes, while full nodes, indexers and block explorers may need updates. November 5 remains a target until the October 20 review.

Support and Resistance Levels

Level Type	Price
Key Resistance	$1,675
Immediate Resistance	$1,500
Immediate Support	$1,357
Key Support	$1,300

$1,675 is the recent high, $1,500 is the momentum pivot analysts flagged, $1,357 sits at the long-liquidation cluster near today’s low, and $1,300 marks the $1,250 to $1,300 area where ZEC traded in mid-September. Levels are illustrative, not guaranteed.

Why Is Zcash Trending Today?

Zcash is trending on its third straight daily decline against a rising market, the largest liquidations of any coin in ZEC futures, the Udon release and the approaching NU7 code deadline. For the full market picture, see crypto market today, and for today’s other headlines, check crypto news today.

What This Means for the Days Ahead

September 30 is the next engineering checkpoint: NU7 code must be ready for the October 6 testnet, which leaves roughly six weeks between the deadline and the November 5 target. The same day, ZCSH starts trading on a split-adjusted basis. The October 20 review will settle the mainnet activation height, so the testnet results carry more weight than the price does for the upgrade’s timing. Tachyon is a separate, longer-term proposal, and Udon’s release changes nothing for the NU7 schedule.

On the chart, ZEC needs to hold $1,357 to avoid a slide toward $1,300. A bounce back above $1,500 would put the recent $1,675 high in view again, and Bitcoin’s direction after this week’s inflation and jobs data will shape how much risk traders take on altcoins.

See how Zcash compares with other assets on Bitcoin News Today, Ethereum News Today, XRP News Today, and Hedera (HBAR) News Today.

Compare Crypto Prices Today

Asset	Price Page
Bitcoin	Bitcoin Price
Ethereum	Ethereum Price
XRP	XRP Price
Solana	Solana Price
BNB	BNB Price
TRON	TRON Price

Where to Buy Zcash

Zcash can be bought on major exchanges including Binance, Coinbase, Kraken, KuCoin, Gate.io, OKX, and Bybit. US investors can also get exposure through The Zcash ETF (ZCSH) in a brokerage account. For a look at other platforms accepting crypto, see our crypto casinos guide.

This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute financial advice. Cryptocurrency markets are volatile; always do your own research before investing.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the price of Zcash today?

Zcash trades near $1,424 on September 29, 2026, down 7.84% over 24 hours and 5.33% over seven days, according to CoinMarketCap. Market capitalization is about $24.04 billion on roughly $1.85 billion in daily volume. The token dipped as low as $1,356 today after trading near $1,674 over the weekend, so the decline is sharp even after a September rally that roughly doubled it from about $800.

Why is Zcash down today?

Reports attribute the drop to profit-taking after a September rally and to a long-position unwind. CoinGlass counted $28.74 million of ZEC liquidations over 12 hours, the most of any coin, and CoinDesk reported ZEC’s third straight daily decline with futures open interest falling. No project-specific trigger has been reported, and Bitcoin rose 1.77% over the same 24 hours.

When does the Zcash NU7 upgrade launch?

NU7’s code-completion deadline is September 30, followed by testnet activation on October 6. Developers will set the mainnet activation height and make the final decision on October 20, with November 5 as the target date. The upgrade cuts block time from 75 seconds to 25 seconds, disables v4 transactions and integrates the Network Sustainability Mechanism while keeping the halving schedule.

What is the Zcash ETF share split?

The Zcash ETF (ZCSH), built by Grayscale, announced a 3-for-1 forward split. Holders of record on September 28 receive two additional shares for each one held, payable after the close on September 29, and split-adjusted trading begins before the open on September 30. The ticker and CUSIP stay the same, and the split changes the share count, not the value of a holding.