Hyperliquid pumped on comments from President Donald Trump that the CFTC was working to bring the exchange into the U.S.
- ZEC gained around 70% in August to reach an eight-year high of $888, while HYPE rose about 50%.
- The Zcash rally came as Grayscale’s ZCSH, the first US spot Zcash ETF, started trading on Tuesday.
- The ranking is flipped year-to-date, with HYPE up over 219% versus a 58.5% gain for ZEC.
Zcash (ZEC) and Hyperliquid (HYPE) were among the biggest gainers among major crypto assets in August, but the two rallies were driven by completely different fuel.
ZEC’s price gained roughly 70% over the month, reaching an eight-year high of $888. Meanwhile, HYPE rose about 50% over the month, setting an all-time high of $86.71 on Thursday.
Why ZEC Rallied?
ZEC’s rally came as the first U.S. spot Zcash ETF arrived. Grayscale’s ZCSH started trading on New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) Arca on Tuesday, morphing a trust the firm had operated as a private placement since October 2017. The month also saw a bounce back from June, when ZEC fell 57% in a single day after developers found a soundness bug in the network’s Orchard shielded pool.
Zcash has the potential to be a serious rival to Bitcoin (BTC), due to its privacy features, cybersecurity development and cross-chain capabilities, which could become more valuable in an AI-driven world, Grayscale said this week. According to the firm, ZEC is still undervalued and could gain more market share despite its rally.
Also, Gemini Space Station Inc. (GEMI) CEO Tyler Winklevoss pointed to Zcash’s fixed supply as the rally ran, saying there were more millionaires in the world than whole units of the token, 60 million against a 21 million cap.
Why HYPE Rallied ?
Hyperliquid’s gains, however, came because of a combination of regulatory signals and internal protocol changes to the way it manages its own revenue.
HYPE rose sharply earlier this month, after President Donald Trump said Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) Chair Mike Selig was working to bring Hyperliquid into the U.S. in a “fully compliant and legal fashion.”
The protocol then reportedly activated its Aligned Quote Asset v2 framework Wednesday, sending around 90% of the cost-adjusted yield on USD Coin (USDC) reserves held on the platform to its Assistance Fund, which buys HYPE on the open market. Circle (CRCL) will act as technical deployer and Coinbase (COIN) as treasury deployer, each staking 500,000 HYPE. Revenue is recognized in 30-day cycles, with the first payment due October 3.
Retail Users Remain Bullish
ZEC’s price was up over 1% during the past 24 hours. On Stocktwits, retail sentiment around ZEC moved to the ‘bullish’ zone from ‘extremely bullish,’ while chatter stayed at ‘extremely high’ levels over the past day.
In contrast, HYPE’s price was down by 2% during the past 24 hours. On Stocktwits, retail sentiment around HYPE remained in the ‘bullish’ zone while chatter stayed at ‘extremely high’ levels over the past day.
Year-to-date, however, the ranking reverses, with HYPE up over 219% so far in 2026, against a 58.5% gain for ZEC.
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