The privacy-focused coin Zcash jumped 23% over the preceding 24 hours while bitcoin and various other prominent digital assets climbed through the night into Thursday’s Asian morning hours, accompanied by a bounce in stock futures following the Federal Reserve’s initial interest-rate hike since 2023.
ZEC changed hands around $1,369, whereas bitcoin ticked upward by under 1% to reach roughly $76,258. Solana advanced nearly 3% to stay just under $100. Both BNB and HYPE, the native token associated with the Hyperliquid crypto trading platform, picked up upwards of 2%, while ether, XRP, and dogecoin experienced increases ranging from 1% to 2%.
The sharp ascent in ZEC coincided with remarks made by Matt Huang, co-founder of the major digital asset investment firm Paradigm, who elaborated on its function as a privacy-oriented counterpart to bitcoin while acknowledging that his organization holds ZEC, according to an update on X.
Zcash permits individuals to transfer funds without publicly exposing sender identities, recipient details, or transaction amounts. Its users recently backed initiatives designed to accelerate transaction processing speeds while maintaining scheduled reductions in the minting of fresh coins, a characteristic it shares with bitcoin.
Huang, whose investment firm holds ZEC, characterized Zcash as “a private complement to Bitcoin.” He endorsed ongoing financial support for its project developers, while suggesting that token holder votes ought to be balanced alongside alternate mechanisms for steering network modifications.
Read More: Zcash holders overwhelmingly back faster transactions and bitcoin-style halvings
The broader digital asset market recovery followed the Fed’s decision to lift its benchmark interest rate by a quarter of a percentage point, bringing it to a target interval of 3.75% to 4%.
Elevated borrowing costs make obtaining credit more expensive and have the potential to contract capital accessible for speculative bets. They also elevate the attractiveness of yield-bearing cash instruments and sovereign debt relative to bitcoin, which generates no passive return simply for being held.
An anticipated rate increase can still be succeeded by higher cryptocurrency valuations if market participants become less worried about the extent of future rate hikes. Projections from the Fed’s median forecast placed the policy rate at 4.1% by the close of both 2026 and 2027, aligning with expectations of one additional quarter-point bump during the current year.
Jeff Ko, chief analyst at ViaBTC, conveyed via email that Wednesday’s rate adjustment was largely accounted for by existing market pricing.
“To me, the Fed is signaling that it does not currently envisage an aggressive tightening cycle, while markets appear reassured by its efforts to contain inflation.”
Futures tied to the S&P 500 grew by 0.6% and Nasdaq 100 futures added 0.7%, while Asian stock markets gained 0.3%. Meanwhile, the two-year Treasury yield, which remains highly reactive to shifting monetary policy expectations, retreated by two basis points to 4.71% after hitting its highest level since 2024 during the prior trading session.
Originally published at https://www.coindesk.com/markets/2026/09/17/zcash-jumps-23-as-bitcoin-and-major-tokens-rise-despite-fed-s-first-hike-since-2023.
