Taiki Maeda

Unfortunately, I had to capitulate my $ZEC perp longs. Spot bags will be ZODL'd. Posting the roundtrip for transparency. I still expect ZEC to be a huge winner in 2027 with Tachyon addressing Bitcoin's biggest issues. But first we must survive 🫡 (bottom signal #ziquidated)

Last week, I hedged my $ZEC longs with more longs This week, I am hedging my $ZEC longs with more longs Texas Hedge

$ZEC is an extremely misunderstood asset, which is why there's still so much upside left. ZEC started to bottom around April 2025, when @ebfull shared a blog post about Project Tachyon. Tachyon makes Zcash quantum proof and paves the way to scale Zcash to 50k TPS. And you cannot address quantum without addressing scalability since post-quantum cryptographic signatures are going to be an order of magnitude larger. At the risk of sounding hyperbolic, the real bull case for Zcash is to fulfill Satoshi's vision: becoming peer-to-peer electronic digital cash. What many Bitcoiners gave up on. Zcash has the same properties as BTC, except it has a credible roadmap to scale to 50k TPS at the base layer, with built-in privacy. It's extremely ambitious, but that is the vision. At the same time, I expect Bitcoin to undergo a crisis of confidence. Crypto participants have been conditioned to blindly believe BTC will hit new highs every couple of years. I believe these assumptions will be challenged as the quantum overhang looms large, and continued underperformance will drive more flows into ZEC. I would not be surprised if BTC trades like ETH last cycle. Peter Thiel talks about the "Last Mover Advantage." That is, it's far better to make the last great development in a market and then dominate. Facebook vs Myspace. Google vs Yahoo. Zcash has dominated a small niche (privacy), and then it plans to scale to the ambitious goal, which is peer-to-peer electronic cash. The ZEC trade closely resembles the SOL trade last cycle. ZEC's ability to move fast challenges a slow-moving incumbent (BTC), similar to how SOL challenged the ivory tower of ETH. History doesn't repeat, but it often rhymes. There’s a fundamental mismatch between why Zcash is going up (Tachyon + last mover advantage) and the broader market’s understanding ("just a privacy coin"). Understanding this is a form of alpha/edge. I expect this knowledge gap to close when Tachyon hits mainnet in Q1 2027. As a result, I expect the following over the next 1-2yrs: 1) Bitcoiners will start "silent quitting" and begin hedging their holdings with ZEC 2) Capital allocators that may have full ported BTC 5 years ago, will buy both ZEC and BTC as a bet on a sovereign SoV 3) Smart crypto developers to move on from other ecosystems to start contributing to Zcash 4) As ZEC continues to outperform BTC, people will start to seriously entertain the possibility of a flippening 5) $20,000 ZEC Zigher.

$ZEC is an extremely misunderstood asset, which is why there's still so much upside left. ZEC started to bottom around April 2025, when @ebfull shared a blog post about Project Tachyon. Tachyon makes Zcash quantum proof and paves the way to scale Zcash to 50k TPS. And you cannot address quantum without addressing scalability since post-quantum cryptographic signatures are going to be an order of magnitude larger. At the risk of sounding hyperbolic, the real bull case for Zcash is to fulfill Satoshi's vision: becoming peer-to-peer electronic digital cash. What many Bitcoiners gave up on. Zcash has the same properties as BTC, except it has a credible roadmap to scale to 50k TPS at the base layer, with built-in privacy. It's extremely ambitious, but that is the vision. At the same time, I expect Bitcoin to undergo a crisis of confidence. Crypto participants have been conditioned to blindly believe BTC will hit new highs every couple of years. I believe these assumptions will be challenged as the quantum overhang looms large, and continued underperformance will drive more flows into ZEC. I would not be surprised if BTC trades like ETH last cycle. Peter Thiel talks about the "Last Mover Advantage." That is, it's far better to make the last great development in a market and then dominate. Facebook vs Myspace. Google vs Yahoo. Zcash has dominated a small niche (privacy), and then it plans to scale to the ambitious goal, which is peer-to-peer electronic cash. The ZEC trade closely resembles the SOL trade last cycle. ZEC's ability to move fast challenges a slow-moving incumbent (BTC), similar to how SOL challenged the ivory tower of ETH. History doesn't repeat, but it often rhymes. There’s a fundamental mismatch between why Zcash is going up (Tachyon + last mover advantage) and the broader market’s understanding ("just a privacy coin"). Understanding this is a form of alpha/edge. I expect this knowledge gap to close when Tachyon hits mainnet in Q1 2027. As a result, I expect the following over the next 1-2yrs: 1) Bitcoiners will start "silent quitting" and begin hedging their holdings with ZEC 2) Capital allocators that may have full ported BTC 5 years ago, will buy both ZEC and BTC as a bet on a sovereign SoV 3) Smart crypto developers to move on from other ecosystems to start contributing to Zcash 4) As ZEC continues to outperform BTC, people will start to seriously entertain the possibility of a flippening 5) $20,000 ZEC Zigher.

Expect a K-shaped recovery for crypto moving forward

How Zcash Flips Bitcoin This Cycle 0:00 $ZEC flipping BTC? 1:20 Second Mover Advantage 3:41 Project Tachyon: Path to 50k TPS 5:39 How To Think About Zcash 13:05 How Zcash gets to $20k 15:13 Their Bias is Your Opportunity

Interview with @SoskaKyle to discuss the generational HYPE trade, what it's like trading with @ThinkingUSD, and how to make it this cycle. 0:00 Bull or Bear Market? 2:49 Kyle’s Journey into Crypto 8:44 “Would You Be Right or Make Money?” 15:52 Teaming up with Flood 21:01 The Famous $HYPE Trade 36:02 Bitcoin and the Quantum Problem 43:20 $ZEC vs $BTC 46:30 Selling All Their $ETH 52:53 Crypto’s Real PMF 1:00:05 Are Great Traders Born or Made? 1:11:11 Memorable Trade (A Painful One) 1:21:39 Cycle Skip Theory vs 4 Year Cycle 1:26:50 Midcurve Traps & Onchain Metas 1:31:40 Hardest Lessons & How to Make It 1:37:55 Managing Tilt & the Art of Selling 1:49:02 Regrets and Final Words of Wisdom

Interview with @SoskaKyle to discuss the generational HYPE trade, what it's like trading with @ThinkingUSD, and how to make it this cycle. 0:00 Bull or Bear Market? 2:49 Kyle’s Journey into Crypto 8:44 “Would You Be Right or Make Money?” 15:52 Teaming up with Flood 21:01 The Famous $HYPE Trade 36:02 Bitcoin and the Quantum Problem 43:20 $ZEC vs $BTC 46:30 Selling All Their $ETH 52:53 Crypto’s Real PMF 1:00:05 Are Great Traders Born or Made? 1:11:11 Memorable Trade (A Painful One) 1:21:39 Cycle Skip Theory vs 4 Year Cycle 1:26:50 Midcurve Traps & Onchain Metas 1:31:40 Hardest Lessons & How to Make It 1:37:55 Managing Tilt & the Art of Selling 1:49:02 Regrets and Final Words of Wisdom

Interview with Jez (@izebel_eth) about how to make it this cycle Timestamps: 0:00 Bull or Bear Market? 3:51 How Jez Got into Crypto 10:20 Long Degeneracy 18:21 Building Conviction & Risk Management 28:37 Importance of Finding Your Group 34:07 Learning from Past Blowups 41:48 Launching @papertrade_xyz 55:48 Are Great Traders Born or Made? 1:01:31 Most Memorable Trades 1:07:20 Why is Leverage so Addicting? 1:10:26 How to Make it This Cycle 1:22:45 Final Words of Advice

Interview with Jez (@izebel_eth) about how to make it this cycle Timestamps: 0:00 Bull or Bear Market? 3:51 How Jez Got into Crypto 10:20 Long Degeneracy 18:21 Building Conviction & Risk Management 28:37 Importance of Finding Your Group 34:07 Learning from Past Blowups 41:48 Launching @papertrade_xyz 55:48 Are Great Traders Born or Made? 1:01:31 Most Memorable Trades 1:07:20 Why is Leverage so Addicting? 1:10:26 How to Make it This Cycle 1:22:45 Final Words of Advice