Grayscale sees ZEC challenging Bitcoin as BTC trades near $80k
Bitcoin (BTC)
Editor:
Eugene Serbin
lookonchain.com reported that Grayscale Research believes Zcash (ZEC) is undervalued and positioned to challenge Bitcoin’s market share. The firm highlighted ZEC’s robust financial privacy and ongoing development to mitigate quantum computing risks as key advantages. Grayscale noted that cross-chain connectivity via "intents" technology could become increasingly critical in an AI-driven surveillance era.
Although ZEC has rallied roughly 19 times over the past year, its market capitalization remains less than 1% of Bitcoin’s. This disparity suggests there is still room for competition in the monetary crypto asset segment. Grayscale added that Zcash could continue to expand its market share but warned that investing in it carries high risk. The firm stressed that even if ZEC successfully challenges Bitcoin, its growth is unlikely to be linear. The report was published on 27 August 2026.
How the market reacted
Whalio's own Binance spot order flow for BTC, measured when this story was written up on 28 August 2026. Not the outlet's figures.
Bitcoin is trading at $80,249.58 with a 1-hour buy ratio of 53.6%, indicating short-term buying pressure. However, this contrasts with the 24-hour buy ratio of 45.2%, showing that buying interest has faded over the longer timeframe. The 1-hour volume delta is positive at +$1,905,004, while the 24-hour volume delta is negative at -$123,102,218. This negative delta means that sell volume has outweighed buy volume over the last day, resulting in a CVD of -$123,102,218. Only 5 of the last 24 hours saw net buying, suggesting that the recent price stability is not driven by sustained accumulation.
The latest daily buy ratio of 46.7% sits at the 18th percentile of the last 322 days, against a median of 49.2% - weaker buying than most days.
Twenty-four hours later
What BTC did over the 24 hours after the story broke. The market moves for its own reasons; this is what happened, not what the story caused.
Was that an ordinary day?
The same Binance spot measurements for BTC, averaged over the days leading up to the story.
Over the preceding week, the average buy ratio was 51.1%, making today’s 24-hour ratio of 45.2% an unusual day with 5.8 points less buying than the weekly average. Spot volume for the day was $1,297,370,375, which is 0.65 times the weekly average, indicating significantly lower activity. Despite this drop in volume, the 8-day volume delta remained positive at +$171,556,665. Bitcoin’s price rose 9.9% over the eight-day period, with net buying occurring on 5 of the 7 days. This context shows that while today is quieter and more sell-heavy than usual, the broader weekly trend remains constructive.