Zcash (ZEC) drops out of crypto's top 10 after 14.4% slide, Crypto Briefing reports
In brief
- ZEC fell 14.4% and slipped to No. 11 by market cap, according to Crypto Briefing.
- ZEC lows landed between $963 and $1,000, roughly 41% below the $1,695 September peak.
- NU7 activated on November 6, days before the slide, cutting block times to 25 seconds.
- No security incidents or protocol failures were reported during the decline.
From the NU7 high to a 41% gap
Days before the drop, ZEC was trading well above $1,300. Network Upgrade 7 (NU7) activated on November 6. It was designed to improve network performance, and it cut block times from 75 seconds to 25 seconds. ZEC climbed above $1,300 to $1,380 around the activation.
That didn't hold.
Crypto Briefing reported that the session closed at around $1,045 to $1,094. The lows sit roughly 41% under ZEC's high of $1,695 (set on September 26, 2026), and they're its weakest level since September 5, per the outlet. Trading volume topped $1.3 billion over the 24-hour period.
Leverage and the Grayscale trust
Crypto Briefing's read is that holders who rode the run-up took profits once the upgrade was live, and leveraged longs who joined late got caught in the reversal. That's the outlet's analysis, not an established cause. It also reported more than $16.5 million in derivatives liquidations in a single day, with roughly 88-89% of them long positions (the report doesn't name a data provider for either figure).
The outlet said the Grayscale Zcash Trust (ZCSH) had outflows of more than $15 million in November, again without citing a source. Crypto Briefing argued those outflows suggest some larger holders used the post-upgrade strength to reduce exposure.
What didn't break
No security incidents or technical failures in the protocol were reported during the decline. Zcash has a hard cap of 21 million coins, and roughly 17.04 million ZEC were in circulation, according to Crypto Briefing. At the start of November, about 29% of ZEC sat in shielded pools, the part of the network where transaction details are kept private.
