Zcash co-founder Eli Ben-Sasson backed Shielded Bitcoin, a proposal to add private transfers to Bitcoin’s base layer, while maintaining that ZEC remains on track to reach his $5,000 year-end target. Published by research firm Alloc Init on September 24, the proposal was authored by Misha Komarov, Aleksei Moskvin and Clara Shikhelma. Its design combines encrypted notes, public nullifiers and zero-knowledge proofs, using Bitcoin PIPEs built on witness encryption rather than a soft fork, BitVM or a consensus change. Ben-Sasson said he has not yet read the paper but welcomed its direction. ZEC trades at $1,545.89, up 1.44% in 24 hours and nearly 291% over 90 days, leaving it roughly 223% below the $5,000 target. September catalysts included $98.2 million of inflows into Zcash spot funds through September 18, Ledger’s addition of private Zcash balances and a $10.68 million loss on one short position.