🚀 Zcash Surges as Market Crashes

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This Moonvember isn’t starting the way most expected, huh? 😅

$BTC.X ( ▼ 3.61% ) barely finished its first red October since 2018, and now the charts are bleeding again. Everything from $ETH.X ( ▼ 6.76% ) to $SOL.X ( ▼ 9.23% ) is flashing red, and that early hype about a breakout feels like a false start.

Still, there’s something different this time. The fear index is dropping slower. Big wallets aren’t selling. And we’re seeing more accumulation near $100K.

If BTC holds that line and flips $110K again, that might be the real signal!

Here’s what we got for you today:

• 👀 Crypto update: AI tokens and ETH set for breakout

• 💥 Zcash rally: Privacy coin outshines BTC

• ⭐ Wintermute vs Binance: lawsuit rumors unpacked

• 🔥 Burning hot takes for the road

AI coins are waking up. Political tokens are back. And ETH is quietly gearing up for its next big move.

From $TAO.X ( ▼ 8.59% ) and $VIRTUAL.X ( ▼ 4.21% ) syncing in perfect rhythm to $TRUMP.X ( ▼ 7.3% ) and $WLFI.X ( ▼ 10.59% ) stealing headlines, this week’s market is all about momentum shifts, the kind that spark new cycles.

⚠️ Don’t blink. The next breakout might already be forming under the surface.

💥 ZCASH PUMPS AS MARKET DUMPS. SOME SAY IT COULD REPLACE BTC!

While $BTC.X ( ▼ 3.61% ) and $ETH.X ( ▼ 6.76% ) struggle in red after the Fed’s rate cut and Trump-Xi trade truce, Zcash ($ZEC.X ( ▲ 22.36% )) is running its own race, and winning it.

The privacy coin has exploded 182% in October, flipping Monero (XMR) in market cap for the first time and kicking off what traders are calling “privacy season.”

At press time, ZEC trades around $417, up another 2.5% on the day, with a $6.4B market cap, leading the $55B privacy coin sector. BTC dropped 2.8%, and ETH fell 6.1%, making Zcash one of the few major tokens still in green.

So what’s behind this rally?

• 🕵️ Privacy comeback. Tightening AML/KYC laws push traders from transparent assets to privacy coins.

• 🏛️ Regulator edge. ZEC’s optional privacy mode appeals to institutions.

• 🐋 Whale buildup. Zcash’s shielded pool hit a record 4.9M ZEC, boosting its network anonymity.

• ⚙️ Tech upgrades. The ECC rolled out new Zashi wallet features, cross-chain swaps and NEAR integration, setting Zcash up as a privacy layer for BTC and ETH.

But here’s where it gets interesting. Analysts are beginning to compare $ZEC.X ( ▲ 22.36% ) vs. $BTC.X ( ▼ 3.61% ) .

Built from BTC’s original code, ZEC shares its 21M supply cap and halving cycle, but adds what BTC can’t: privacy at the protocol level.

Every ZEC transaction can hide the sender, receiver, and amount - a feature that even Bitcoin maximalists like Edward Snowden now call essential.

Developer Thor Torrens went further:

Still, skeptics say BTC’s network effects and institutional acceptance make it nearly impossible to replace. But Zcash’s recent surge shows that the market is hungry for a private alternative.

Personally, I think this isn’t just a speculative pump. The rally comes amid tightening surveillance, renewed fear of quantum threats, and rising demand for financial privacy. It feels like Zcash is quietly becoming relevant again - not as BTC’s killer, but as its mirror image.

So… could ZEC truly challenge BTC’s dominance one day, or will this privacy wave fade like the ones before it? What’s your thought on this?

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🔥 WINTERMUTE VS BINANCE: LAWSUIT RUMORS EXPOSED

Crypto Twitter went wild this week after whispers spread that Wintermute, one of the largest market makers in the game, was preparing to sue Binance over massive losses from the October 11 crash.

But CEO Evgeny Gaevoy says that’s “complete nonsense.”

Here’s what went down:

• A random X account, named WhalePump Reborn, claimed Wintermute got “wrecked” by Binance’s Auto-Deleveraging (ADL) system during the market crash.

• The post said Binance refused to compensate them

• The rumor spread like wildfire, but none of it was true.

Gaevoy hit back fast:

And of course, CZ had his say too:

So, what actually happened?

The October 11 market crash wiped out $20 billion in leveraged positions within hours after Trump announced a 100% tariff on Chinese imports.
Wintermute reportedly lost some positions but survived “the biggest liquidation event in crypto history.”

Still, there might be more to it.
Gaevoy later said on The Block’s Big Brain Podcast that some of their liquidations happened at “illogical price levels”, hinting at possible glitches or unfair triggers in Binance’s liquidation engine.

To make things spicier, on-chain data shows Wintermute moved $700 million to Binance hours before the crash, and withdrew nearly all of it afterward.

Binance tried to calm the storm by:

• Paying $283M to users affected by the USDe, BNSOL, and WBETH depegs

• Launching a $400M recovery fund, including $100M in low-interest loans for institutions hit hardest

But no one knows if Wintermute got a piece of that pie.

Now the big question: Was it all just a rumor, or a quiet settlement?
Some traders think both sides are keeping things private to avoid bad press. Others believe it exposed deeper issues with Binance’s risk systems and transparency.

So far, both sides are playing it cool.
Wintermute says it’s “business as usual.” Binance says everything worked as designed.

But traders aren’t buying it, and whispers of “illogical prices” and “hidden triggers” are still echoing through the market.

Because in crypto, no lawsuit doesn’t always mean no problem. Behind closed doors, the industry is asking (and quietly worrying) the same thing: What really happened inside Binance’s liquidation engine that night?

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🔥 BURNING HOT TAKES FOR THE ROAD

Ripple acquires Palisade to boost its institutional wallet game. A big move into enterprise custody. Read more

Berachain halts its network after a $128M exploit tied to Balancer V2. Devs confirm an emergency hard fork to recover funds. Read more

Stream Finance loses $93M after its stablecoin $XUSD.X ( ▼ 0.01% ) depegs. Investors flee as DeFi yield platforms wobble again. Read more

Binance CEO Richard Teng denies rumors linking CZ’s pardon to Trump’s “World Liberty Financial” project, calls the story “pure fiction.” Read more

Bitcoin ETFs see $946M in outflows as Fed uncertainty rattles markets — institutions hit pause on risk exposure. Read more

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⚠ This newsletter is for informational purposes only and should not be considered investment advice. Traders should conduct thorough research, understand the risks, and carefully evaluate their decisions before investing in cryptocurrency.