Gemini Co-Founder: Zcash Is the “Bitcoin of Encryption,” ZEC Has Potential to Reach $5,000

On October 22, Gemini co-founders Cameron Winklevoss and Tyler Winklevoss stated in an interview that Bitcoin—being a public, auditable blockchain with all transactions openly viewable worldwide—fundamentally fails to meet users’ core privacy needs. In contrast, Zcash was purpose-built for private transactions and payments, making the two protocols functionally complementary and naturally coexistent. While privacy *ideally* should be a native feature of the Bitcoin protocol, the more pragmatic path forward today is “Bitcoin for value storage + Zcash for private transactions.” They emphasized that Bitcoin’s strategic role remains irreplaceable—but amid accelerating AI integration into financial infrastructure, its fully transparent on-chain data is increasingly exposing users to privacy risks.

To the Winklevoss brothers, Zcash isn’t a replacement for Bitcoin; rather, it precisely fills Bitcoin’s critical capability gap—privacy—earning it the moniker “encrypted Bitcoin.” They noted that the privacy value currently embodied by ZEC remains severely underpriced by the market: once ZEC’s market cap reaches 10% of Bitcoin’s, its price could surge fivefold—easily clearing $5,000. Consequently, they expressed strong conviction in ZEC’s price performance over the next 5–10 years, especially as societal privacy awareness intensifies and demand for privacy solutions accelerates.

“Zcash is the guardian of financial privacy in the AI era—the essential line of defense against AI-driven surveillance and digital authoritarianism,” they added. “Anyone bullish on AI—or quantum computing—regardless of whether they’ve consciously drawn the connection, is already implicitly endorsing Zcash’s foundational value proposition. Zcash is the crypto-native hedge asset against AI risks and quantum threats.”