This cat memecoin has paid holders $2.8 million in Zcash as ZEC tops $1,200

A cat memecoin on Solana has paid its holders nearly $3 million worth of zcash as a rally in both tokens turned an unusual reward mechanism into a substantial payout.

Anonymous Cat, or ZCAT, charges a 3% tax whenever the token is transferred. Most of that money is converted into zcash ($ZEC) and distributed to wallets holding at least $20 worth of ZCAT, according to the project's dashboard.

Because $ZEC prices have recently surged, rewards paid to CAT holders have gone through the roof. About 2,320 $ZEC, worth roughly $2.8 million as of Monday morning in Asia, has been distributed across more than 470,000 payouts, the data show.

Note that the $ZEC rewards come from other people buying, selling, and transferring ZCAT, not from a business or investment that produces income. So if trading dries up, the payouts will be vastly reduced.

$ZEC has gained more than 2,300% over the past year and passed $1,200 late Sunday amid renewed demand for privacy-focused cryptocurrencies. Zcash allows users to hide details, including the sender, receiver, and amount of a transaction — making it the most direct way to bet on the privacy sector returning as a key narrative among crypto traders.

There is also a more conventional route for investors. Grayscale listed a spot Zcash ETF on NYSE Arca in late August, giving investors exposure through a U.S.-listed fund rather than requiring them to buy and custody $ZEC directly.

ZCAT itself trades against $ZEC through StonkFun, a Solana launchpad that lets newly created tokens use assets other than SOL or stablecoins as their trading pair.

ZCAT has surged alongside it. The token traded around 13 cents on Monday, with a market value of about $124 million and roughly $22 million in trading volume over 24 hours. It briefly traded near 19 cents over the weekend before selling off sharply in early Monday trading.

Cat-themed tokens are having a moment, for reasons that seem far-fetched from fundamentals.

One called Cash Cat offers a recent example of how quickly a meme can attach itself to a new crypto venue. The token gained traction when Robinhood Chain went live in July and became a cult favorite partly because Cash Cat was an early name associated with Robinhood before the brokerage adopted its current brand.

One trader turned about $800 into more than $1 million during the token's first week, while memecoins quickly became one of the busiest uses of a blockchain Robinhood had built around tokenized stocks.