Anonymous Cat, a Solana memecoin, has paid holders about $2.8 million in Zcash through a 3 percent transfer tax as ZEC topped $1,200.
Anonymous Cat, a Solana memecoin, has paid holders about $2.8 million in Zcash through a 3 percent transfer tax as ZEC topped $1,200.

Zcash's rally past $1,200 has turned a Solana cat memecoin's transfer tax into a $2.8 million payout stream for holders.
Anonymous Cat, known as ZCAT, converts most of a 3 percent levy on each transfer into Zcash and distributes it to wallets holding at least $20 of the token, according to the project's dashboard, which shows more than 470,000 payouts totaling about 2,320 ZEC as of the Asian session open Monday (01:00 UTC).
ZCAT trades against ZEC through StonkFun, a Solana launchpad that lets newly created tokens use assets other than SOL or stablecoins as their trading pair. The memecoin changed hands around 13 cents Monday with a market value of about $124 million and roughly $22 million of 24-hour volume, after touching near 19 cents over the weekend.
The reward stream exists only because Zcash is having a moment. ZEC has climbed more than 2,300 percent over the past year and passed $1,200 late Sunday, lifting its market capitalization above $20 billion and past Dogecoin for tenth place among cryptocurrencies, CoinMarketCap data shows.
The advance traces to Grayscale's ZCSH exchange-traded fund, the first US spot ZEC product, which began trading on NYSE Arca on Aug. 25 with a 2.5 percent sponsor fee. The fund has drawn at least $34.4 million in net inflows and held $463.2 million in assets as of Sept. 4, according to The Block and Grayscale. ZEC broke through $1,000 on Sept. 4, triggering about $34.5 million in short liquidations that accelerated the climb, CoinGlass data shows.
The rally has also lifted shielded usage. Zcash lets users hide sender, receiver and amount details, and shielded supply has climbed to 4.85 million ZEC, the highest since June, per BlockWorks. The SEC ended its investigation into the Zcash Foundation earlier this year without enforcement action, and Bitwise chief investment officer Matt Hougan has named ZEC alongside Bitcoin as an asset worth holding for the next decade.
Buying ZCAT remains a bet on a cat token keeping enough attention to stay liquid. The ZEC payouts come from other people trading ZCAT, not from a business producing income, so the stream would thin sharply if activity and liquidity fade. ZEC's next test is the $1,500 level, with record futures open interest of about $2.43 billion leaving the rally exposed to a reversal if leveraged longs unwind.
This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice.