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On September 18, Bankless co-founder David Hoffman tweeted that "altcoin season is arriving earlier than expected." The community went wild. The comment section was full of "bullish" and "all in." But few noticed that on the same day he also said: "NEAR can be seen as a generalized version of ZEC." This sentence is actually the most dangerous part of the entire tweet. Calling altcoin season is for attention; labeling NEAR as "generalized ZEC" is a bet. First, let's look at what's happening with ZEC. Paradigm co-founder Matt Huang publicly disclosed on September 17 that the firm holds ZEC, calling it "Bitcoin's complement in privacy." This is not some crypto KOL hyping a coin. This is a mainstream VC managing tens of billions of dollars publicly confirming their holdings. Grayscale's Zcash spot ETF (ZCSH) launched on August 25, and within two weeks, assets under management surpassed $500 million, holding over 550,000 ZEC, about 3% of the circulating supply. DCG International Investments alone invested $100 million. The ZEC community just overwhelmingly approved the NU7 upgrade—block time shortened from 75 seconds to 25 seconds, while retaining Bitcoin-style halving cycles. 99.9% voted to shorten the block interval. ZEC is currently priced around $1,444, with a market cap of $24.5 billion, already breaking into the top ten cryptocurrencies by market cap. A year ago, it was still around $30. Paradigm holdings + Grayscale ETF + community governance upgrade—these three things happening simultaneously is no coincidence. This signals privacy assets evolving from "geek toys" to "institutional allocations." But what Hoffman really wants to say is not to buy ZEC. The label he gives NEAR is: "a generalized version of ZEC." In plain language: ZEC protects financial privacy, NEAR aims to protect the privacy of all commercial activities. Do you get it? What he's pushing is not a privacy coin, but privacy infrastructure. Zashi wallet (the core self-custody gateway in the ZEC ecosystem) uses NEAR Intents for its cross-chain swap function. Want to swap BTC for shielded ZEC? Use NEAR. Want to swap shielded ZEC for USDC? Still use NEAR. NEAR collects toll fees on every transaction. As of early September, NEAR Intents had a cumulative transaction volume of about $27.6 billion, covering more than 26 blockchains, generating approximately $45 million in fees. The Fee Switch mechanism activated in February 2026 stipulates that 100% of protocol fees are used to repurchase NEAR on the open market. The hotter ZEC gets, the more Zashi is used, and the stronger NEAR's buyback. Hoffman's bet logic chain is: privacy asset trading volume explodes → underlying settlement layer captures value → NEAR gets the dividend. But the data reveals an awkward truth. $45 million in cumulative fees sounds like a lot. How much actually flows into the buyback pool as "protocol revenue"? $5.51 million. Monthly average buyback is about $900,000. Out of $45 million, only $5.51 million went into the buyback pool. Where did the rest go? Most was taken by solvers (market makers/settlement parties) and distribution channels. SwapKit alone took over $4.4 million. NEAR Intents is more like a "toll collector"—the volume passes through, but most of the money stays in others' pockets. Even more painful is the concentration. ZEC trades account for nearly 40% of NEAR Intents' daily volume. This means NEAR's "altcoin season" narrative heavily depends on the performance of just one coin, ZEC. ZEC rises, NEAR follows. ZEC falls, NEAR likely falls even harder. This is not infrastructure; it's a shadow. There's one more thing hidden in Hoffman's liquidation moves. On May 21, he liquidated his six-year ETH holdings. On the same day, Ryan Sean Adams stepped back, David took over Bankless, and the team was later reported to have undergone significant layoffs. He took half the funds and equally bought VVV, NEAR, ZEC, HYPE, and invested the rest in LIT through dollar-cost averaging. The purchase price for NEAR was about $1.4, now $3.63. Liquidate ETH → take over media → build altcoin positions → call altcoin season → label holdings with narratives. This sequence was completed within three months. Think about it. Hoffman is not betting on altcoin season. He is betting that privacy will shift from "geek demand" to "institutional compliance demand." Paradigm is buying ZEC. Grayscale is launching ETFs. The ZEC community is upgrading protocols. NEAR is enabling default privacy mode for confidential perpetual contracts. All these things are happening simultaneously. This bet is much bigger and much riskier than altcoin season. Because if the privacy narrative does not institutionalize—if regulations tighten, if ZEC's hype fades, if NEAR remains just "ZEC's shadow"—then Hoffman's entire logic chain will break from the bottom. $45 million in fees but only $5.51 million buyback efficiency is itself a warning. Don't just look at what he's shouting. Look at what he's buying and why he's shouting now. $BTC $ZEC $NEAR