Zcash Price Forecast: ZODL Founder’s New Support for Ending Community Grants Accompanies ZEC Rebound

• A rebound from rising trendline support lifts Zcash above $1,250 on Monday, following two straight days of declines.
• Ending Zcash Community Grants’ share of block rewards wins support from ZODL founder Josh Swihart.
• Weekly net inflows into the ZEC ETF narrowed to around $18 million after Friday saw outflows exceeding $4 million.

Renewed risk appetite among institutional and retail investors supports Zcash (ZEC) on Monday, with the coin extending its recovery above $1,250. Zcash Open Development Lab (ZODL) founder Josh Swihart now backs the compromise proposal to discontinue the 8% block reward allocation to Zcash Community Grants (ZCG). A second week of Exchange Traded Fund (ETF) inflows, totalling roughly $18 million, and futures Open Interest approaching 2 million ZEC also point to improving investor sentiment.

A near-term bullish bias in Zcash’s technical setup points towards the horizontal resistance at $1,385, a barrier that has held since 6 October.

What could Zcash NU7 and the compromise proposal change?

With Network Upgrade 7 scheduled for 5 November, developments across the Zcash ecosystem could draw attention this week. Alongside disabling the Sprout pool and its transactions, the upgrade will shorten block intervals from 75 seconds to 25 seconds, improving transaction confirmation times. 

Support for the compromise proposal from Zcash co-founders Sean Bowe and Zooko Wilcox-O’Hearn has meanwhile come from ZODL founder Josh Swihart. In an X post on Monday, he said he now backs ending Zcash Community Grants’ 8% share of block rewards. Under the proposal, that allocation moves into a "Future Dev and Legal Defense Fund" lockbox. ZCG will consequently be pushed to donate 50,000 ZEC to the Network Sustainability Mechanism, while its existing treasury will continue funding ongoing grants.

Is demand returning to Zcash?

Buying interest in the Zcash ETF has revived over the past two weeks, with inflows of $17.72 million last week, followed by $41.09 million. Before this run, the ETF recorded three consecutive weeks of outflows following the 3-for-1 stock split on 28 September. The reversal suggests that selling pressure driven by higher volumes has eased. Renewed inflows also coincide with the NU7 upgrade due on 5 November and a possible change to network grants.

Retail positioning also shows signs of recovery. According to CoinGlass, Zcash Open Interest (OI) increased from 1.96 million ZEC on Sunday to 1.99 million ZEC on Monday. OI had previously fallen from 2.18 million ZEC on Tuesday to 1.94 million ZEC on Saturday. The subsequent recovery indicates a gradual build-up in positions, reinforcing signs of renewed risk appetite.

Technical outlook: Can Zcash clear resistance at $1,385?

A modest recovery on Monday puts Zcash at $1,257, with the privacy coin retaining a bullish near-term bias. On the four-hour chart, a rising trendline linking the lows of 18 and 30 October provides support for the uptrend near $1,215.

Buyers also appear to be defending important pivot zones, as Zcash has moved back above both the 50-period Exponential Moving Average (EMA) at $1,250 and the 200-period EMA at $1,240 on that chart.

Four-hour momentum is moving from bearish towards neutral. The Relative Strength Index (RSI) stands at 50 as it rises towards the neutral midline, while the Moving Average Convergence Divergence (MACD) remains flat beneath its signal and zero lines, with shrinking histograms. Together, these readings suggest that price dips are attracting support rather than aggressive selling.

The first upside hurdle is $1,385, the high recorded on 6 October; a sustained move above it would open the door to a further rally. Using the Fibonacci retracement from $1,385 to the 18 October low of $1,049, the 127.2% and 161.8% extension levels, around $1,493 and $1,644 respectively, could become the next significant resistance points.

Below the current price, the 50- and 200-period EMAs at $1,250 and $1,240 offer immediate support within a broader demand band. A deeper correction would likely encounter structural support around the 50% retracement at $1,205 and the ascending trendline near $1,215. Buyers could seek to restore the prevailing uptrend in that area.

(The technical analysis of this story was written with the help of an AI tool. Know more.)