HYPE and ZEC Both Surge 20% on the Same Day, What's Behind the Triple Catalysts?

Overview

In mid-to-late May 2026, a rare resonance occurred simultaneously across two tracks in the crypto market: Hyperliquid's native token HYPE surged approximately 20% within 24 hours, approaching its all-time high; Zcash (ZEC) recorded a daily gain of about 18%, driving the entire privacy coin sector, including DASH, XMR, DCR, and ZEN, to strengthen collectively.

Behind these two price movements lies not mere speculative hype, but a series of substantial fundamental events occurring in rapid succession: the acceleration of the SEC's Innovation Exemption framework, the successive launch of institutional-grade ETF products, Coinbase's takeover of the Hyperliquid ecosystem's USDC treasury, and Grayscale's submission of the first-ever spot ETF application for a privacy coin. This article will dissect each catalyst and provide exclusive analysis from the MEXC Crypto Pulse team.

Key Takeaways

Driven by a quadruple catalyst of SEC Innovation Exemption policy expectations, the listing of Bitwise BHYP on the NYSE, Coinbase's takeover of the Hyperliquid USDC treasury, and the Pre-IPO contract narrative, HYPE saw an approximately 20% gain in 24 hours.

Propelled by three key drivers – the SEC closing its investigation, Grayscale filing the first US spot privacy coin ETF S-1 application, and Multicoin Capital publicly disclosing its holdings – ZEC recorded an approximately 18% gain in 24 hours.

The resonance effect across the privacy coin sector was significant, with DASH, XMR, DCR, and ZEN all rallying in unison led by ZEC.

Both assets are trading near their historical highs, exhibiting extremely high short-term volatility. Careful position management is advised.

HYPE Price Analysis: Four Catalysts Ignite Simultaneously

SEC Innovation Exemption Framework: A Signal of Regulatory Shift

The macro backdrop for this HYPE rally cannot be separated from the policy shift at the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). According to Bloomberg, the SEC has prepared an "Innovation Exemption" framework that would allow blockchain platforms to issue tokenized products representing listed company stocks without requiring explicit consent from the underlying company. The market interprets this framework as a major relaxation of regulatory constraints on crypto innovation.

Hyperliquid is currently the decentralized perpetual contract platform accounting for approximately 60% of on-chain derivatives trading volume, making its ecosystem highly aligned with the tokenized stock narrative. If the Innovation Exemption framework is implemented, Hyperliquid would be one of the most direct beneficiaries, significantly strengthening the logic for HYPE's value revaluation.

Meanwhile, Hyperliquid's annualized revenue run rate had reached approximately $843 million by March 2026. With 97% of platform fees used to buy back HYPE, this deflationary mechanism has led to continuous upward revisions in market valuation expectations.

Bitwise BHYP: The First Spot ETF with Staking Rewards

On May 15, 2026, Bitwise Asset Management officially launched BHYP on the New York Stock Exchange. This is one of the first spot HYPE ETPs in the US market and the first HYPE ETF to utilize proprietary infrastructure for staking – Bitwise executes staking operations directly through its Bitwise Onchain Solutions division, rather than delegating to third-party validator nodes.

Regarding management fees, BHYP's standard fee rate is 0.34%, but it is temporarily zero for the first month and within the initial $500 million asset range. With approximately $11 billion in assets under management, this launch marks HYPE's official entry into the list of institutionally allocable assets.

Prior to this, 21Shares had already taken the lead by launching THYP on Nasdaq on May 12, 2026. The successive entry of these two institutions further solidified Hyperliquid's position within the institutional crypto narrative.

Coinbase Takes Over Hyperliquid USDC Treasury

Almost concurrently with the BHYP listing, Coinbase issued an official announcement on May 14, 2026, formally becoming the official treasury deployer for USDC on the Hyperliquid platform. Under the AQAv2 (Aligned Quote Asset v2) framework, Coinbase replaced the previous Native Markets, assuming responsibility for managing USDC liquidity within the Hyperliquid ecosystem.

The financial significance of this agreement is undeniable: the total USDC supply on the Hyperliquid platform has reached approximately $5 to $5.8 billion, roughly doubling year-over-year. Under the new framework, the majority of USDC reserve earnings will flow back to the Hyperliquid protocol, directly benefiting HYPE holders, whereas previously these earnings were primarily attributable to Circle and Coinbase.

Concurrently, the ecosystem stablecoin USDH previously operating on Hyperliquid will gradually be phased out of circulation. Users can exchange USDH for USDC or fiat currency with zero fees via the USDH Dashboard. Circle serves as the cross-chain infrastructure provider in this process, responsible for executing the technical asset transfer through its Cross-Chain Transfer Protocol (CCTP).

Pre-IPO Contract Narrative: The Expanding Imagination for On-Chain Capital Markets

Amplified by the policy expectations of the SEC Innovation Exemption framework, the market narrative positioning Hyperliquid as "on-chain capital market infrastructure" continued to gain momentum during this period. Bitwise's Chief Investment Officer, Matt Hougan, publicly stated that HYPE is the best-performing large-cap crypto asset of 2026, with year-to-date gains exceeding 77%, yet the market still underestimates its value – because the vast majority of investors view Hyperliquid only as a perpetual contract exchange, overlooking the fact that nearly half of its trading volume comes from non-crypto assets like stocks and prediction markets.

This framework aligns perfectly with the "Super App" vision advocated by SEC Chairman Paul Atkins – the ability to custody and trade multiple asset classes under a single license. The Hyperliquid Pre-IPO contract narrative has thus become a core driver for the market's restructuring of HYPE's valuation.

ZEC Price Analysis: A Systematic Revaluation of the Privacy Sector

SEC Closes Investigation: End of Years of Regulatory Shadow

A pivotal moment underpinning the recent ZEC surge came on January 15, 2026, when the SEC formally closed its investigation, announcing it would not take any enforcement action against the Zcash Foundation, ending a nearly two-year inquiry. The investigation initially commenced in August 2023, concerning matters related to certain crypto asset offerings.

The SEC's withdrawal not only removed the sword of Damocles hanging over ZEC's regulatory status but also sent a broader signal to the market: privacy protection mechanisms centered on zero-knowledge proofs have officially entered a zone of regulatory tolerance. Alex Bornstein, Executive Director of the Zcash Foundation, described the first quarter of 2026 as "one of the most decisive periods" in the foundation's history.

Grayscale Submits First-Ever Privacy Coin Spot ETF

On May 8, 2026, Grayscale Investments filed Form S-3 with the SEC to convert its Zcash Trust into a spot ETF, intending to list it on NYSE Arca under the ticker ZCSH. The underlying asset is physical ZEC, benchmarked against the CoinDesk Zcash Price Index minus fees.

This represents the first spot ETF application for a privacy coin in the global crypto market. Coinbase Custody serves as the custodian, and Coinbase Inc. acts as the prime broker. As of the end of March 2026, the trust held approximately 391,103.89 ZEC, with a fair market value of around $99.4 million.

Analysts estimate that ETF approval could potentially drive $500 million to $2 billion in capital inflows. Given ZEC's relatively small circulating supply and shallow market depth, the price impact of such capital inflows could be significantly higher than for mainstream coins.

Multicoin Capital Discloses Holdings Publicly: Anchoring Institutional Confidence

Tushar Jain, co-founder of Multicoin Capital, publicly stated on X (formerly Twitter) on May 6, 2026, that the fund had been continuously buying ZEC since February 2026 and had established a significant position. Jain characterized this bet as "the return of Cypherpunk spirit," with the investment thesis directly addressing macro-political risk: Bitcoin's transparent balances could still face state-level asset seizure, positioning ZEC, with its privacy features, as a hedge against "confiscation-resistant assets."

This disclosure triggered a powerful market reaction: ZEC surged approximately 30% within 24 hours, breaking through $550 and extending above $585 to hit a new 2026 high. It also triggered approximately $62 million in forced short liquidations, making it the largest liquidation event of the week after Bitcoin.

Privacy Sector Resonance: DASH, XMR, DCR, ZEN All Follow Suit

ZEC's strong performance rapidly spread across the entire privacy sector. Monero (XMR) hit an all-time high during the same period, surpassing its 2021 peak. Its FCMP++ (Full-Chain Membership Proofs) protocol upgrade introduced zero-knowledge proofs based on full-chain history, widely regarded by developers and analysts as the most significant privacy advancement since RingCT. DASH, DCR, and ZEN also showed clear correlated upward movement, with the overall privacy sector exhibiting a pattern of systematic revaluation.

Market consensus is gradually shifting from "privacy coins are regulatory targets" to "privacy infrastructure has independent investment value." This narrative shift is the natural result of market pricing driven by the accumulation of multiple catalysts.

Exclusive Insights from the MEXC Crypto Pulse Team

HYPE's core logic is sector pricing, not short-term speculation. Hyperliquid has simultaneously benefited from SEC policy dividends, institutional ETF endorsement, and Coinbase ecosystem integration. The combination of these three factors is not merely a simple news-driven catalyst but a阶段性 confirmation (phased confirmation) of its positioning as "on-chain capital market infrastructure." Our team notes that while HYPE's year-to-date gains have exceeded 77%, Bitwise still publicly states it is undervalued. This institutional assertion – that a strong asset remains undervalued – warrants attention, as it typically suggests institutions are still in an accumulation phase rather than a distribution phase. Whether Hyperliquid can truly capture the tokenized stock trading volume expected from the SEC Innovation Exemption framework will be the core variable for its next-stage valuation. A key risk to monitor is that HYPE is currently still unavailable to US users, meaning the pace of compliance progress may diverge from market expectations.

ZEC's rebound is the beginning of a privacy sector revaluation, but its sustainability needs observation. Multicoin Capital's institutional endorsement, combined with the Grayscale ETF application, has re-anchored ZEC's narrative from a "marginalized asset suppressed by regulation" to a "macro-hedging tool." This represents a leap in narrative hierarchy, not merely a technical bounce. However, our team also notes that ZEC has a small circulating supply and shallow market depth, making short-term volatility easily amplified. The current price level already incorporates significant optimistic expectations. Furthermore, the EU's Anti-Money Laundering Regulation (AMLR) will take effect in July 2027, requiring regulated crypto service providers to delist privacy coins. This constitutes a tangible medium-term regulatory risk exposure. When participating in ZEC and other privacy sector assets, investors must maintain clear judgment, balancing the narrative's potential realization against these compliance pressures.

FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions)

Q1: What is the HYPE token?

HYPE is the native token of the Hyperliquid blockchain. Hyperliquid is a high-performance Layer 1 public chain, with its core product being a decentralized perpetual contract exchange. The platform's total trading volume for 2025 reached $2.9 trillion, representing a year-over-year increase of over 400%. HYPE's tokenomics are designed so that 97% of platform fees are used for buyback and burn, creating a direct deflationary mechanism.

Q2: What is the difference between the Bitwise BHYP ETF and directly holding HYPE?

BHYP trades as a traditional stock on the New York Stock Exchange, requiring no self-custody of tokens, making it suitable for investors seeking HYPE exposure through a securities account. However, BHYP holders cannot directly use Hyperliquid's on-chain features, and the ETF's share price might deviate from its net asset value. Directly holding HYPE allows participation in on-chain staking and ecosystem interactions but requires self-management of private keys and custody risk.

Q3: What are the main differences between ZEC and other privacy coins like XMR?

Zcash (ZEC) employs an optional privacy mechanism, allowing users to choose whether to use Shielded Addresses for private transactions. Currently, the shielded supply represents about 30% of the total circulating supply. Monero (XMR), conversely, uses a mandatory, fully private mechanism where all transactions are untraceable by default. From a compliance standpoint, this makes it more difficult to align with regulatory frameworks but also grants it purer censorship-resistant properties.

Q4: What does the SEC closing its investigation into Zcash mean?

The SEC formally notified the Zcash Foundation in January 2026 that it would not take any enforcement action, meaning the investigation concluded without any penalties, injunctions, or findings. This outcome removed the multi-year regulatory overhang on ZEC and was interpreted by the market as a signal that zero-knowledge proof-based privacy technology has officially entered a zone of regulatory tolerance, laying the groundwork for the advancement of the Grayscale ETF application.

Q5: What is AQAv2, and why is Coinbase's takeover of the Hyperliquid USDC treasury important?

AQA (Aligned Quote Asset) is the framework for the unified settlement quote asset within the Hyperliquid ecosystem. Version v2 establishes USDC as the sole AQA and replaces the treasury deployer with Coinbase. The financial significance of this change is that the interest income generated by the approximately $5 to $5.8 billion USDC reserve on the Hyperliquid platform will largely flow back to the protocol itself, rather than to Circle or Coinbase. This directly strengthens the long-term value proposition for HYPE holders.

Q6: Where can I trade HYPE and ZEC?

You can trade HYPE and ZEC on MEXC. MEXC offers one of the widest selections of trading pairs globally and supports multiple fiat currency deposit methods.

Disclaimer

This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice or a solicitation. The cryptocurrency market is highly volatile; prices can experience significant fluctuations in a short period, and investors may lose their entire principal. The price data, project information, and market forecasts mentioned herein reflect market conditions only at the time of writing and do not represent any guarantee of future performance. Before making any investment decisions, please fully assess your own risk tolerance and consult with a professional financial advisor.

About the Author

This article was written by the MEXC Crypto Pulse Research Team. The team specializes in in-depth analysis of the cryptocurrency market, covering macro policy trends, institutional capital flows, emerging