Privacy Coins Skyrocket 213% as Zcash and Monero Break Away from Cryptocurrency Pack

Privacy coins have surged to become the strongest-performing segment of the cryptocurrency market, increasing by 213% from Bitcoin's all-time peak in October 2025. According to data from Glassnode, this is a significant outlier as most other sectors remain below their pre-peak levels.

The median asset among the top 200 cryptocurrencies has dropped 58%, while Bitcoin itself remains 36% off its peak. However, privacy coins have decisively moved above the previous threshold and continue to grow, with Zcash (ZEC) being a significant contributor, accounting for 62% of the total market cap.

The price of ZEC went up by 2,496% during the year, moving from 82nd to 7th place in cryptocurrency market caps. Monero (XMR), another prominent privacy coin, has also shown resilience and remains one of only four assets that stayed above its level at Bitcoin's all-time high.

This trend is not limited to Zcash or Monero alone, as the top 200 privacy coins have seen a $26.5 billion increase in market capitalization over the past year, with close to half occurring in the past 30 days.