Some of Bitcoin’s oldest whales spent months privately urging early investor Dan Held to buy Zcash before the token rallied past $1,000, according to a recent interview.
Held, a former Kraken head of marketing who purchased his first Bitcoin in 2012, stated that the messages originated from investors with eight- and nine-figure net worths who have actively traded Bitcoin since 2013.
Whales Pitch Zcash to a Bitcoin Purist
Over a period of roughly three to six months, these wealthy investors pushed Held to buy Zcash (ZEC) while it traded between $100 and $400. To fund the trade, many of these whales trimmed a fifth to an eighth of their long-term Bitcoin holdings.
Zcash crossed the $1,000 threshold, marking its first time above that level since its launch nearly a decade ago. Rising inflows into Grayscale’s ZCSH fund have further contributed to the rally's momentum. Additionally, the rapid shift in market sentiment resulted in some Zcash short sellers being squeezed.
Held Remains Skeptical
Despite the rally and a 182% increase in Zcash over the last three months, Held remains skeptical of the timing. He noted that crypto narratives typically form only after an asset has already moved rather than beforehand, a pattern he believes applies to Zcash.
Held contrasted Zcash with Bitcoin's fixed 21 million supply cap, explaining that the Zcash community accepted a tradeoff between privacy and supply auditability that Bitcoin proponents rejected. He pointed to an episode from six months to a year ago when confusion over a potential exploit made it unclear exactly how much ZEC was in circulation—uncertainty he described as intolerable for an asset positioned as digital gold.
Stating that he generally avoids buying assets the market already loves, Held noted that his best trades, such as Bitcoin and SpaceX, involved assets that nobody wanted at the time. With Zcash, he said that is no longer the case.
Market participants suggest it will likely take a full market cycle to judge whether the whales' early timing ultimately proves correct.
