Today in crypto, Zcash vs Bitcoin debate deepens, Solari Capital, led by AJ Scaramucci, has put more than $100 million into American Bitcoin, and a crypto executive weighs in on investor outlook beyond Bitcoin and Ethereum.
Zcash rebounds to over $700 and drops back down as ZEC vs BTC debate heats up
The price of Zcash (ZEC) climbed back above $700 on Sunday, before retracing to the price at the time of this writing, as the debate between advocates of the privacy coin and Bitcoin (BTC) maximalists raged on.
“The ‘Bitcoin only, everything else is a scam’ crowd is going to get really twisted trying to figure out what to say about Zcash,” Hunter Horsley, the CEO of investment firm Bitwise, said in an X post, which triggered a torrent of reactions from Bitcoin maximalists.
“You can certainly make money trading ZEC, but as far as competing with BTC on scam/not scam, there’s really no comparison,” BTC investor Dale Edward said in response.
Meanwhile, Zcash supporters like Mert Mumtaz, CEO of remote procedure call (RPC) node provider Helius, dismissed the opposition from Bitcoin maximalists as overblown conspiracy theories about the Zcash protocol.
The historic price rally that saw Zcash surge by over 1,000% within two months has reignited conversations around privacy in the crypto industry.
Scaramucci family invested over $100M in Trump’s Bitcoin mining firm: Report
The Scaramucci family has invested over $100 million into American Bitcoin, the mining company tied to US President Donald Trump’s sons.
The funding came through Solari Capital, the investment firm founded by AJ Scaramucci, which led the company’s $220 million round in July, months before American Bitcoin went public through a reverse merger in September, according to a report from Fortune. The miner did not previously disclose its backers.
AJ Scaramucci told Fortune that Solari Capital contributed “over $100 million,” though he did not reveal the exact amount. His father, Anthony Scaramucci, also participated with a smaller investment.
Other contributors included Tony Robbins, Cardano founder Charles Hoskinson, investor Grant Cardone and entrepreneur Peter Diamandis, per the report.
‘Very wide gap’ between XRP and Solana investor interest: Exec
The average investor still hasn’t reached a clear consensus on which crypto assets beyond the top two warrant serious attention, according to Anthony Bassili, president of Coinbase Asset Management.
“There’s a very, very clear view in the investor community in terms of the right first portfolio is Bitcoin. The next is Bitcoin, Ethereum,” Bassili said during an interview with Cointelegraph at The Bridge conference in New York City on Wednesday.
Bassili pointed out that Solana is “maybe” the third asset on the radar. “The market is very unsure as to what’s the next asset they want to own after that,” he said, adding that after Solana, there is a “very wide gap” with XRP.
“We have to see the product market fit of the next network or the next application that will enter that fourth position,” he added.
