I thought privacy coins were relics of the past. Today, I was taken aback. While the entire market turned red as Chinese stocks collapsed and BTC hovered around $82K, ZEC surged 10% to around $1,300, becoming the top-performing coin in the top 100. Why? The Zcash team just finalized the NU7 upgrade on November 5 at block 3,543,405, reducing block time from 75 seconds to 25 seconds—almost as fast as boiling instant noodles. What’s worth pondering: this coin was rumored to be completely delisted, hated by regulators, and presumed dead. Yet over the past three months, ZEC has risen 102%, with spot ETFs attracting a net inflow of $169.7 million and total assets reaching $648 million. Real money—not just tweet shills. The most degen detail: the upgrade completely disabled the original Sprout wallet. Anyone who left funds in it and didn’t move them before November 5 lost everything entirely. A network upgrade that caused people to lose money because they forgot. Bottom line: In an era where every wallet is under scrutiny, the coin designed to hide money just posted the biggest gains of the day. The crowd is either hunting for alpha—or looking for a place to hide.