Shielded Bitcoin Gets Nod From Zcash Creator; $5,000 ZEC Target Stands

Shielded Bitcoin, a plan to bring private transactions to Bitcoin's base layer, has received the backing of Zcash co-founder Eli Ben-Sasson. He also reiterated that ZEC remains on course to reach his $5,000 target by year-end.

Ben-Sasson, a co-founder of both Zcash and StarkWare, was a co-author of the Zerocash paper that gave rise to Zcash. His stated aim from the start, he notes, was to deliver that privacy to Bitcoin's network.

Shielded Bitcoin Proposal Applies Zcash-Like Privacy to Bitcoin's Layer 1

September 24 saw the publication of the proposal by research firm Alloc Init. The authors are Misha Komarov, Aleksei Moskvin, and Clara Shikhelma.

Per the whitepaper, the design employs encrypted notes, public nullifiers, and zero-knowledge (ZK) proofs. Nullifiers prevent double-spending of the same hidden coins. No soft fork, BitVM, or consensus change is required. Instead, it uses Bitcoin PIPEs, a mechanism built on witness encryption. Consequently, all protocol data is stored on Bitcoin's blockchain, the team claims.

This is significant since ordinary Bitcoin transactions remain visible on the blockchain and can expose confidential business payment information to onlookers.

Ben-Sasson acknowledges he has not yet read the paper. Nonetheless, he expressed approval of the direction and said he hopes ZK privacy and scaling will come to Bitcoin's base layer.

I love this direction, our original intent with Zerocash paper (the whitepaper preceding Zcash) was to bring privacy to Bitcoin. Haven't read this one, but would love to see our vision of privacy and scalability via ZK materialize on Bitcoin L1. https://t.co/e9qrjX8NmN

— Eli Ben-Sasson | Starknet.io (@EliBenSasson) September 24, 2026

$5,000 ZEC Target Remains as Prior $1,200 Call Plays Out

Ben-Sasson forecast on September 9 that ZEC would trade above $1,200 by September 25, a prediction that has materialized. ZEC currently stands at $1,545.89, a 1.44% increase over the last 24 hours. Over 90 days, the token has risen almost 291%. Market cap puts it in ninth place.

To hit $5,000, ZEC would need to climb about 223% more. In the meantime, Ben-Sasson notes that more whales are approaching him to ask what is fueling the rally. He concedes he has no answer and has turned to his followers to provide one.

September has brought several catalysts, however. Zcash spot funds attracted $98.2 million in the week ending September 18, the highest inflow among 14 crypto products. Ledger integrated private Zcash balances into its desktop application. Meanwhile, the uptrend has hurt short sellers of ZEC, with one position liquidated at a loss of $10.68 million.

Ben-Sasson presents his target as a personal wager rather than investment guidance. The outcome may hinge on whether ETF demand persists through December.