ZEC has surged 20-fold in a year, with a string of positive news catalysts spurring the market for the so-called "strongest" privacy coin.

According to Farside data, U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs posted a net outflow of $244.1 million yesterday, marking two consecutive days of large net outflows. U.S. spot Ethereum ETFs saw a net outflow of $72.5 million yesterday, extending their net outflow streak to 8 consecutive trading days.

According to U.S. SEC Form 4 filings, Robinhood CEO Vladimir Tenev sold 375,000 shares of the company’s stock on October 5, totaling $42.6435 million at an average price of roughly $113.72 per share. The firm’s Chief Legal Officer Daniel Martin Gallagher Jr. sold 10,000 shares, generating $1.1371 million in proceeds at an average price of approximately $113.71 per share. Both transactions were carried out under pre-established Rule 10b5-1 plans.

According to TradingBeats' monitoring, as of the morning of October 9, the Hyperliquid whale address 0x880a…311c holds approximately 9,563 ZEC short positions, with a position value of around $11.67 million, using 10x leverage at an average entry price of roughly $1,376.6. The address currently has an unrealized profit of about $1.49 million, translating to a position return of approximately 113.4%. Over the past 24 hours, the address reduced its ZEC short positions in 14 separate transactions, totaling around $3.99 million in position cuts, and still retains a short position worth roughly $10 million. Currently, the ZEC contract mark price is approximately $1,220.5, about 11.3% lower than the address' average entry price.

Flash News from Insight Beating AI: Shi Yang, former head of ByteDance’s AI programming tool TRAE, has reportedly left the company ahead of China’s National Day. Sources say he plans to launch a startup focused on AI office solutions alongside Fu Yue (Yuyi), ByteDance’s former head of AI data and security. The project is said to have completed its first financing round with a valuation of approximately $200 million; the company name, financing amount, and investors remain undisclosed. Shi Yang’s LinkedIn profile shows his tenure at ByteDance ended in September, with his new role listed as an undisclosed startup project. He joined ByteDance in 2024, leading Doubao MarsCode and TRAE in succession. Prior to that, he founded enterprise identity management firm Yufu Technology, which was later acquired by Tencent. Fu Yue, who oversaw ByteDance’s AI training data business, was reported to have left the company in August. The departure news comes amid ByteDance’s ongoing integration of its AI office business. In August, TRAE and the Coze team were merged into the Doubao system, with related product teams now reporting to Zhao Qi, head of Doubao. On October 9, TRAE announced it would merge TraeWork and TraeCode into a single product.

Crypto KOL Ansem stated during a discussion with Market Bubble and Banks that as AI continues to expand and intellectual labor becomes commoditized, culture, attention, and collective belief will grow more valuable. If quantum risks become a material threat to Bitcoin, Zcash (ZEC) has a path to achieve a valuation close to Bitcoin’s by leveraging its privacy features and the narrative of being a "better store of value." "I hold some ZEC spot, but I am not actively taking a long position," Ansem added. He also noted that Murad, a meme coin KOL, is correct in his broad judgment about the premium for cultural and belief-based assets, but it is "extremely, extremely unlikely" that pure meme coins will surpass Bitcoin in market capitalization. In his view, when the future brings massive numbers of AI agents and an oversupply of intellectual labor, the only assets that will truly command a premium are those tied to individuals, culture, and assets that people genuinely believe in.

PONS founder Ozzy said he bought some spot Bitcoin today, marking his first purchase of the asset since January 2023. According to HTX market data, Bitcoin is currently trading at $82,300, having pulled back roughly 6% from its recent high of $87,400.