Bitcoin Whales Were Urging Friends to Buy Zcash Before Its Rally to $1,000

Some of Bitcoin’s oldest whales spent months privately urging early investor Dan Held to buy Zcash (ZEC) before the token’s rally past $1,000, he said in a recent interview.

Held, a former Kraken head of marketing who bought his first Bitcoin in 2012, said the messages came from investors with eight- and nine-figure net worths who have traded Bitcoin since 2013.

Whales Pitch Zcash to a Bitcoin Purist Held said that over roughly three to six months, these investors pushed him to buy ZEC between $100 and $400. Many funded the trade by trimming a fifth to an eighth of their long term Bitcoin holdings.

Zcash has since crossed $1,000 last week, its first time above that level in nearly a decade, since it was launched. Rising Zcash ETF inflows into Grayscale’s ZCSH fund have added to the rally’s momentum. Held said he still views the timing skeptically.