The price of Zcash (ZEC) inched closer to $40 on 15th December, falling to as little as $40.08 during the session, according to data from CoinMarketCap.

ZEC tokens have never reached $40 before, so this price level would represent a new low for the digital currency.

Zcash has generated significant visibility since its launch, with supporters pointing to its zero-knowledge proofs, called zk-SNARKS, as a means of achieving greater privacy for transactions.

ZEC prices surged on their first trading day of 28th October, reaching approximately 3,300 BTC (more than $2 million) on Poloniex. However, the digital currency's price quickly declined, ultimately falling to 48 BTC that day.

Zcash has thus far failed to obtain adoption, and cryptocurrencies like Monero remain dominant on the Dark Web, where users derive significant benefit from maintaining privacy in their transactions. Since ZEC tokens have not obtained a meaningful use thus far aside from trading, some market observers have asserted that their value is, at present, purely speculative.

Disclosure: CoinDesk is a subsidiary of Digital Currency Group, which has an ownership stake in the startup developing the open-source Zcash platform.