Zcash NU7 upgrade and Zcash versus Bitcoin investment comparison, Digi Mart USA News: Zcash’s NU7 network upgrade is set to activate at 9:30 PM ET on November 5, 2026. Zcash is trading at $1,268, down 4% in the last 24 hours, while Bitcoin is priced at $78,532, down 0.8% over the same period.
Over the past month, Zcash’s price fluctuated between $1,126 and $1,365, while Bitcoin ranged from $76,709 to $85,540. Both cryptocurrencies have fallen significantly from their peaks.
Bitcoin’s all-time high reached $126,080 on October 6, 2025, while Zcash hit its highest price of $3,192 on October 28, 2016, its first day of trading.
To reclaim its peak, Bitcoin needs to rise 60.6% to reach $126,080, increasing its market capitalization from about $1.58 trillion to around $2.54 trillion. Market capitalization is calculated by multiplying the token price by the number of coins in circulation.
Zcash would need to rally 151.6% to hit its 2016 high, bringing its market capitalization from about $21.61 billion to $54.39 billion. Supply dilution makes that harder, since Zcash hit its peak when only a fraction of its coins existed.
About 81.1% of its 21 million cap is now issued, so matching that price would require a far bigger network.
Bitcoin faces less dilution, with 95.7% of its coins already in circulation. As a result, Bitcoin’s market capitalization is about 73 times larger than Zcash’s, meaning any new demand affects ZEC’s price more significantly.
The article notes that while Zcash shows higher potential gains, it also has a smaller market and is farther from its peak price.
The NU7 upgrade will activate at block 3,543,405, expected around 02:30 UTC on November 6, or 9:30 PM ET on November 5. The upgrade will reduce block time from 75 seconds to 25 seconds, enabling faster transaction settlements.
After the upgrade, about 12,226 ZEC remaining in the original Sprout pool will become unspendable, valued at around $15.5 million at current prices.
The update follows objections from holders that led Zcash Community Grants to cancel a plan to redirect those coins. Unlike Zcash, Bitcoin has no comparable event scheduled.
On November 4, U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs attracted a net $74.6 million.
The Grayscale Zcash ETF (NYSEARCA:ZCSH) gained only $3.4 million that day after losing $3.6 million the previous day. ZCSH began trading on August 25.
ZEC traded at $511 on August 7 and rose to $1,653 by September 26, but choppy flows since then suggest ETF buyers have not committed again.
According to the T. Rowe Price Active Crypto ETF (NYSEARCA:TKNZ) prospectus supplement, Bitcoin held a 44.2% benchmark index weight and Zcash a 6.5% weight as of October 20.
These are benchmark index weights, not necessarily the fund’s own holdings, which can differ. Zcash ranks 10th by market capitalization.
Bitcoin has the better chance of reclaiming its all-time high by 2027, while a return to Zcash’s 2016 peak would mean a far bigger gain. For Zcash to regain momentum, the NU7 upgrade must go smoothly, ZCSH inflows must stabilize, and ZEC needs to clear its September high of $1,653 before $3,192 is back in play.
A rough upgrade could instead send it toward its October low of $1,126.
Bitcoin must hold above its 200-day moving average of $73,186 and break its 90-day high of $86,597 while ETF inflows continue. Zcash is designed as a privacy-focused cryptocurrency that can obscure transaction details, while Bitcoin’s ledger is public, so the two serve different users and purposes.
The analysis is the publisher’s and has not been independently verified.
