ZCash surges 7% after Digital Currency Group CEO announces $85M purchase

Digital Currency Group CEO and founder Barry Silbert has purchased more ZCash to add to his company’s coffers as the price of the token moved above $240 for the first time in days.

In a Wednesday tweet to his more than 678,000 followers, Silbert announced the purchase of $85 million in Zcash (ZEC), or roughly 376,106 tokens assuming an average price of $226. The buy is just the latest for Silbert, who seems to be portraying himself as a contrarian in the crypto market — responding to negative comments on ZEC by purchasing millions more.

Alright, you asked for it. We bought $85 million more Zcash $ZECPray for us... https://t.co/Pv6i0LO789

According to data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro, the price of ZEC surged more than 7% following Silbert’s announcement, from $226.08 to $243.84. However, it has fallen more than 20% since reaching a six-month high of more than $300 on Nov. 25, shortly after its core protocol's transition from Proof-of-Work to Proof-of-Stake.

Related: ZEC price jumps 20% in one day as Zcash devs unveil transition to Proof-of-Stake

Crypto whales like Silbert may be buying ZEC in anticipation of more of the project’s tokens going out of circulation due to lockup periods. Zcash’s main developer, Electric Coin Company, announced on Nov. 19 that users would be able to stake a portion of their holdings into a dedicated ZEC smart contract to become validators on its blockchain.

Digital Currency Group operates Grayscale, a $53.5 billion AUM digital asset manager which offers investors exposure to cryptocurrencies through its trusts. The firm first listed its Grayscale Zcash Trust on the OTCQX Best Market in October. Silbert has also hinted that the company is making plans to convert its Bitcoin Trust into a spot-settled Bitcoin exchange-traded fund.