The privacy coin sector has once again found itself at a crossroads recently. With increasingly credible news about privacy upgrades coming from Ethereum, it’s hard not to wonder: how much longer can veteran privacy coins like ZEC hold on?

Let’s talk about ZEC’s recent price action. When it surged to $749, to be honest, I already felt something was off—there were no substantial positive developments, no major moves in its ecosystem, and the hype was being propped up purely by “privacy narrative is about to take off” calls on social media. The result? Last night, a big red candle wiped out most of the gains—what was bound to happen, happened.

This kind of crash is actually easy to understand. Hype relies on sentiment and liquidity; when both recede, prices naturally collapse. Looking back at that $749 peak, there were a ton of problems:

No ecosystem upgrades, on-chain data was unimpressive, no institutional money entering, all retail FOMO buying the top, and when the hype faded, nothing was left.

That’s just how the market works—after the frenzy, there’s always a cooling-off period.

But the real challenge is still ahead—if Ethereum successfully implements privacy features, ZEC could have an even tougher time. Ethereum’s plan is pretty clear: privacy solutions on Layer-2, users can choose their transaction transparency, compliance and privacy are both addressed, and everything integrates seamlessly with the entire Ethereum ecosystem.

The most critical issues are liquidity and developer resources. As the largest smart contract platform, if Ethereum really makes privacy transactions a core infrastructure, it won’t just put pressure on other privacy coins—single-function projects like ZEC will be hit with dimensionality reduction.

In the end, both technical narratives and market hype fade away. What truly survives depends on ecosystem depth and real-world applications. ZEC isn’t just facing a short-term price correction; it’s a long-term survival issue—once Ethereum really moves, the entire privacy coin landscape could be reshuffled.

For those holding ZEC, what are your thoughts right now? Where’s your cost basis, and are you planning to hold or cut your losses? Feel free to discuss in the comments.