ZCash and NEAR Fuel Explosive September Gains for Privacy Coins

September was a strong month for privacy coins, which outperformed the broader cryptocurrency market. Zcash (ZEC) and NEAR led the pack, with gains of over 64% and 166%, respectively.

ZEC climbed from $860 on September 1 to a multi-year peak of $1,687.78 on September 27 before easing to $1,393 by September 30. The surge was driven by retail demand, short squeezes, and momentum from the launch of a Grayscale exchange-traded fund (ETF).

NEAR's price more than doubled in September, breaking out past $3 by mid-month and breaching the psychological $5 barrier on September 27. The token's parabolic run was catalyzed by speculation over Bitwise's proposed ETF, alongside accelerating adoption of the 'NEAR Intents' cross-chain transaction framework.

Other privacy-focused tokens posting strong September gains included Litecoin (LTC), up 37%, NIGHT, up 135%, and Dash (DASH), which jumped 30%. However, Monero (XMR) was one of the few tokens in the category that failed to keep pace, rising a modest 3%.