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Zcash (ZEC), the market’s leading privacy-focused cryptocurrency, has delivered a massive performance, with year-to-date data showing ZEC is up more than 1,200%, dramatically outpacing major coins. Cardano (ADA), by contrast, has been in a very different posture, with the same period showing a roughly 66% retrace.
The divergence has been so pronounced that Zcash briefly surpassed Cardano by market capitalization, pushing ZEC to become the 11th-largest cryptocurrency on May 10—an inflection point that has led at least one market expert to suggest ZEC could ultimately flip ADA in that key ranking.
Why Zcash Is Catching Investors’ Eye
Market expert Alex Carchidi highlighted several drivers in a new report, pointing to big accumulation as one of the most important themes. For example, Multicoin Capital disclosed in early May that it has been building a significant position in Zcash since February.
That kind of accumulation is not limited to one firm. Cypherpunk Technologies has also accumulated an additional 295,000 Zcash tokens, representing about 1.7% of the coin’s circulating supply.
Carchidi noted that the network’s privacy usage appears to be rising in parallel with price. Approximately 30% of Zcash’s circulating supply is now held in shielded addresses.
These addresses rely on specialized cryptography to encrypt transaction details, preserving user privacy—a capability that standard public blockchains don’t offer in the same way.
Importantly, this share has nearly quadrupled over the past two years, a trend Carchidi says strongly suggests that adoption and usage are increasing alongside ZEC’s market momentum.
Cardano Lacks Clear Path To Breakout
At the same time, the expert argues the comparison with Cardano is different in almost every way besides market cap. Carchidi pointed out that Cardano is built as a smart-contract blockchain and is designed to compete in decentralized finance (DeFi), yet its traction has been comparatively limited.
As of May 12, Cardano reportedly had only about $137 million in total value locked (TVL), placing it 26th among all blockchains. That figure also reflects a notable decline from roughly $410 million a year earlier.
Carchidi’s view is that Cardano is in what he described as an “awkward valley.” He argues it is too slow and relatively expensive to compete effectively with high-speed, high-throughput chains such as Solana (SOL).
At the same time, even though Cardano is cheaper than the blockchain it was originally created to beat—Ethereum (ETH)—it remains slightly slower and does not have nearly the same ecosystem scale.
From this angle, the expert sees the market’s behavior as reflecting a widening gap in conviction narratives. According to Carchidi, institutional capital tends to favor stories that can stand up to scrutiny.
He claims Zcash has such a narrative, while Cardano’s story has largely been “wait for better times” for the past several years—without enough clarity on how the better times will be delivered by what the developers are building right now.
What Could Drive ADA Higher?
Carchidi suggested that a potential approval for a spot Cardano exchange-traded fund (ETF) in the second half of 2026 might be the clearest near-term reason to hold.
Even so, he doubts that investors would be eager to hold Cardano through an ETF if there is not a strong investment thesis supporting purchases at current levels.
Ultimately, Carchidi’s conclusion is direct. He argues that, given the lack of clear catalysts and the uncertainty around what would drive recovery, it may make sense to sell Cardano. Zcash, on the other hand, could be attractive if a portfolio needs exposure to privacy coins or scarce stores of value.
At the time of writing, ZEC was trading at around $545, having recorded additional gains of 63% in just two weeks. During the same period, ADA recorded gains of 9%, trading at around $0.27.
Featured image created with OpenArt, chart from TradingView.com
