Privacy coins gained 213% since Bitcoin’s October 2025 peak, led by Zcash as most major crypto sectors remain below their previous highs. Wise Crypto said the sector’s market value rose from USD 7.1 billion a year ago to USD 33.6 billion. Zcash now accounts for roughly 62% of that total.
Zcash has risen about 25 times over the past year, according to Wise Crypto. Its market-cap ranking climbed from No. 82 to No. 7 at one point. CoinGecko currently places ZEC at No. 9. Glassnode data last week showed privacy as the only crypto sector trading above its October peak. Every other category remained below that level by double digits.
ZEC traded near USD 1,140 at the time of writing. It was flat on the day, up 32% in two weeks and more than 2,100% over one year. Still, the token remained below its 2016 high near USD 3,190.
Grayscale’s Zcash ETF, ZCSH, crossed USD 500 million in assets within two weeks of launch. Meanwhile, Monero, the second-largest privacy asset, roughly doubled over the same period despite several exchange delistings.
Wise Crypto said only four of the 25 largest crypto assets remained above their October levels. The group included ZEC, HYPE, XMR and WBT.
Dan Tapiero told The Wolf of All Streets on September 11 that ZEC and HYPE showed activity extending beyond Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Solana. A day later, Infinex’s Egor Sidelska described privacy as one of crypto’s less-developed areas. He also described ZEC as a potential 100x opportunity outside meme coins.
Not all analysis supported the scale of Zcash’s rally. Analyst filbfilb compared ZEC transaction activity with Bitcoin at a similar issuance stage. His valuation models produced an implied ZEC price near USD 944.
Also Read: Privacy Coins Surge 213% as Zcash Drives Crypto Sector Rally
Those models also produced higher fair-value estimates under scenarios where Zcash continued closing the activity gap with Bitcoin. Can privacy coins sustain their lead while Bitcoin and most sectors remain below October levels?
Bitcoin traded near USD 77,000, down just over 1% in 24 hours and about 34% over one year. BTC remained nearly 39% below its October 2025 all-time high, widening the contrast with privacy-sector performance.