Cypherpunk Technologies chief investment officer Will McEvoy argued on Tuesday that markets are undervaluing Zcash (ZEC), contending that investors lack a clear framework to price financial privacy even as AI-driven surveillance expands. In a social media thread, McEvoy laid out a series of comparative benchmarks to illustrate what he called Zcash’s “asymmetric” upside if privacy becomes more broadly valued.
Thesis: Privacy Is Underpriced, Zcash Is Overlooked
“Zcash is the most mispriced asset in crypto because privacy is the most mispriced asset in society,” McEvoy wrote, asserting that the market “has no real framework for valuing privacy so it gets ignored.” He framed ZEC as a digital asset positioned at the intersection of several large markets, yet currently “just a rounding error” in each.
Zcash is a privacy-focused cryptocurrency that uses zero-knowledge proofs to enable shielded transactions while offering optional transparency features. McEvoy characterized ZEC as “encrypted Bitcoin” and, in a separate analogy, “a Swiss bank account in your pocket.”
Benchmarks and Implied Valuations
To illustrate potential re-ratings, McEvoy compared Zcash’s cited price of $263 and market capitalization of $4.4 billion at the time of his post against larger markets, including Bitcoin, gold, offshore wealth, stablecoins, and Monero. He emphasized these are scale comparisons rather than direct equivalencies. The scenarios he shared included:
- Relative to Bitcoin ($1.45 trillion): If ZEC reached 0.5% of Bitcoin’s value, the implied ZEC price would be $446; at 1%: $891; 2%: $1,782; 5%: $4,456.
- Offshore wealth (~$11.3 trillion): At 0.1% penetration, ZEC would be $680; at 0.5%: $3,402; at 1%: $6,804. “People pay a premium for privacy,” he wrote. “They always have. They always will.”
- Gold (~$34.8 trillion): If ZEC reached 0.05% of gold’s value, the modeled price is $1,048; at 0.1%: $2,095; at 0.5%: $10,477. McEvoy argued ZEC shares gold’s discretion while being digital, portable, and programmable.
- Stablecoins (~$312 billion): Assuming ZEC captured 5%, 10%, or 25% of the stablecoin market, implied prices would be $939, $1,877, and $4,692, respectively. He contrasted ZEC’s privacy with the traceability of most stablecoin transactions.
- Monero (~$6.8 billion): Positioning Zcash against a leading privacy coin, McEvoy argued ZEC offers “stronger cryptography, optional transparency for compliance, and better scalability.” Parity with Monero’s value would imply $410 per ZEC; at 2x: $819; at 5x: $2,047.
These are hypothetical scenarios presented by McEvoy and do not constitute forecasts.
AI Surveillance and the Demand for Privacy
McEvoy tied his valuation view to a broader technology backdrop, warning that advances in artificial intelligence heighten financial data visibility. “Artificial intelligence is the attack. Zcash is the defense,” he wrote. “AI decodes all the data. Zcash encrypts all the data. As AI advances, privacy becomes more valuable, not less.”
Market Snapshot
At press time, ZEC traded at $244.77.