Zcash Continues to Outperform Every Other Major Cryptocurrency This Year. So Is ZEC Now a Buy?

As of Oct. 13, the privacy coin Zcash (CRYPTO: ZEC) is up by 121% year-to-date, more than eight times the gain of the best performer among the largest cryptocurrencies by market cap.

But that doesn't make it invincible. On Oct. 7, crypto security researcher Justin Drake warned that artificial intelligence could, at worst, crack the cryptography that secures crypto wallets "in months, not years," per CoinDesk. The coin fell by 14% in the following 24 hours.

Does this mean that Zcash's era of outperformance is over, or is this crypto still worth buying?

Image source: Getty Images.

Zcash is probably the most prepared of the crypto majors in cybersecurity

Today, Zcash is already fairly well prepared for the near future, in which AI expedites the discovery of software exploits, given its recent experience.

On May 29, an AI-assisted audit using an Anthropic model found a critical vulnerability that, in theory, could enable attackers to secretly counterfeit coins in one of Zcash's private pools.

The point of private pools is that keeping funds there hides the sender, receiver, and transaction amounts from prying eyes. Still, it's that same obfuscation that makes it so hard to detect counterfeit coins minted clandestinely, since the fakes would be very hard to find. To address the exploit, Zcash's developers published a machine-checked proof of more than 2,700 theorems on July 28, showing that the patched private-pool design has no undetectable counterfeiting bugs under its stated cryptographic assumptions.

Few peers have been willing to stress-test their own code this publicly. And in the context of the next section, that's especially important.

Is Zcash a buy after the AI scare?

Another threat is only hypothetical at the moment -- the possibility of AI finding a shortcut through the math that underpins blockchain cryptography itself.

After OpenAI released 722 AI-generated math manuscripts on Oct. 6, however, the probability of AI being powerful enough to undermine previously unassailable mathematical constructs within cryptography is higher than ever.

Zcash wouldn't be spared if its cryptography were breached, especially not if a quantum computer targeted it. But Zcash Open Development Lab (ZODL) chief Josh Swihart said in May 2026 that a full quantum-resistant upgrade was on the chain's roadmap and would take just 12 to 18 months.

That upgrade only helps against AI if its new math holds up, and Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin has warned that AI math could seriously weaken some quantum-resistant cryptography. The biggest cryptography-related threat is already on the network's radar, and the work is already in progress, although further updates may be needed if Buterin is right.

Does any of this make Zcash a buy? Yes, as a small position for investors who can tolerate some volatility. Its security posture adds to its other strengths, such as its private pools and finite supply.

Still, if the events of 2026 so far haven't convinced the market that a strong cybersecurity posture makes a cryptocurrency significantly less risky, the next few years will likely do the trick. It's a bit premature to call Zcash a "cybersecurity coin," but if there ever is such a thing, this cryptocurrency might lead the category.

Alex Carchidi has positions in Ethereum and Zcash. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Ethereum. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.