LTC vs ZEC
Litecoin and Zcash scored on the same 25 variables, ranked against the same 251 tokens, with every gap between them shown.
Scoring pass 18 Sept 2026. Market snapshot 7 Oct 2026.
What separates them
LTC scores 102 of 250 and ranks 129th of 251. ZEC scores 101 and ranks 135th. LTC leads by 1 points, which is inside the range where the individual variables matter more than the total. LTC takes 8 of the 25 variables, ZEC takes 13, and 4 are level.
4 variables separate them by 3 points or more. LTC is clear on Regulatory Safety (8 against 3), Vesting Schedule (9 against 6) and Insider Selling (7 against 4). ZEC is clear on BTC Alpha Potential (5 against 2).
Both score 3 or below on Protocol Revenue, Revenue Trend, Buyback and Burn, Real Staking Yield, TVL Trend, Network Growth. A weakness both sides share is not a reason to prefer either. It is a reason to check whether the category itself carries the problem.
ZEC is valued at $22.59B against $5.15B for LTC, a 4.4x difference. The smaller of the two scores higher on fundamentals, which is the disagreement worth understanding before either position is taken.
LTC trades 83.9% below its all-time high and ZEC 58.3% below its own. Recovering the high needs 6.2x from LTC and 2.4x from ZEC, which is the same statement read as the return each one has to produce.
All 25 variables, head to head
Both tokens were scored by the same framework in the same pass, so the numbers are directly comparable. What a comparison adds over two separate pages is the gap: a 6 against a 6 is a non-event, a 9 against a 3 is the reason to hold one and not the other.
Cash flow
| Protocol Revenue | 2 | 3 | ZEC +1 | |
| Revenue Trend | 2 | 3 | ZEC +1 | |
| P/S Multiple | 2 | 4 | ZEC +2 | |
| Real Staking Yield | 1 | 2 | ZEC +1 |
Supply
| Supply Inflation | 7 | 5 | LTC +2 | |
| Vesting Schedule | 9 | 6 | LTC +3 | |
| Circulating / FDV Ratio | 8 | 7 | LTC +1 | |
| Buyback and Burn | 1 | 2 | ZEC +1 |
Ownership
| Smart Money Flows | 3 | 4 | ZEC +1 | |
| Insider Selling | 7 | 4 | LTC +3 | |
| Holder Concentration | 6 | 4 | LTC +2 |
Traction
| TVL Trend | 1 | 2 | ZEC +1 | |
| Active Users | 4 | 3 | LTC +1 | |
| Developer Activity | 3 | 5 | ZEC +2 | |
| Network Growth | 2 | 3 | ZEC +1 |
Position
| Market Share | 3 | 4 | ZEC +1 | |
| Competitive Moat | 3 | 5 | ZEC +2 | |
| Institutional Adoption | 4 | 4 | level | |
| Exchange Depth | 8 | 6 | LTC +2 | |
| Social Mindshare | 4 | 4 | level |
Risk
| Regulatory Safety | 8 | 3 | LTC +5 | |
| Catalyst Calendar | 3 | 4 | ZEC +1 | |
| BTC Alpha Potential | 2 | 5 | ZEC +3 | |
| Team Execution | 4 | 4 | level | |
| Treasury Runway | 5 | 5 | level |
Bars read outward from the centre: LTC to the left, ZEC to the right. The side that leads a variable is filled. Each score is 1 to 10 against the same definition applied to all 251 rated tokens.
Market and supply
| LTC | ZEC | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $66.24 | $1,331 |
| Market cap | $5.15B | $22.59B |
| Circulating | 92.5% | 80.8% |
| Dilution to full supply | 1.08x | 1.24x |
| Off all-time high | -83.9% | -58.3% |
| To recover the high | 6.2x | 2.4x |
| Total value locked | not published | not published |
| Network | Litecoin | Zcash |
Price, market cap and all-time high from the CoinGecko snapshot fetched 7 Oct 2026. Supply shares are derived from circulating and eventual supply counts, which do not move with price. The 25 scores come from the research pass dated 18 Sept 2026.
Catalyst and risk on each side
LTC · WATCH
Spot LTC ETF application in pipeline; third halving supply cut in August 2023
Zero DeFi network; payment use case obsoleted by stablecoins; declining relevance
ZEC · WATCH
ZEC halving reduced miner emissions; Shielding growth and the Crosslink hybrid finality work led by Shielded Labs, not the Electric Coin Company and shielded transaction growth
Regulatory delistings accelerating; most ZEC transactions are transparent not shielded; Monero preferred by privacy community; ECC funding concerns
Common questions
- Is LTC or ZEC the better investment?
- On this framework LTC scores higher: 102 against 101 of 250, and it is rated WATCH against WATCH. That is a ranking of fundamentals as recorded at the last scoring pass, not a price forecast, and LTC still wins 8 of the 25 individual variables against ZEC.
- What is the biggest difference between LTC and ZEC?
- Regulatory Safety. LTC scores 8 of 10 there and ZEC scores 3, a gap of 5 points on a single variable.
- Which is bigger, LTC or ZEC?
- LTC is valued at $5.15B and ZEC at $22.59B on the latest market snapshot.
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Research and analysis, not investment advice. A higher score is one framework applied consistently to 251 tokens, not a prediction that one asset will outperform the other.