While the rest of the crypto space has entered a slump, traders are banking on privacy tokens, with Zcash leading the charge.
CoinMarketCap data shows that Zcash (ZEC) climbed to a high of $655 earlier Friday, reaching a market capitalization of about $10.6 billion. At the time of writing, the rally had cooled and retraced to $632, giving it a $10.3 billion valuation and positioning it as the 12th-largest crypto asset by market cap.
ZEC is up by almost 23% in the last 24 hours and has increased in value by more than 63% in the last week, according to CoinMarketCap.
The surge extends a breakout run that has turned the once-overlooked privacy coin into the frontrunner of 2025’s “privacy revival.” This trend reshapes the conversation around surveillance-resistant crypto and financial autonomy.
Related: Why Zcash and privacy tokens are back in the conversation
Top privacy tokens post breakout gains in the past week
While Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH) continue to consolidate, the spotlight has shifted to privacy-focused assets, with ZEC outperforming its rivals, such as Monero (XMR).
Apart from Zcash, CoinMarketCap showed that tokens like Dash (DASH), Decred (DCR) and ZKsync (ZK) also posted the biggest gains among top privacy-focused crypto assets last week.
Dash showed gains of over 141% in the last week, while Decred and ZKsync showed 96% and 122% price increases, respectively. Monero (XMR) also posted gains of nearly 12%, but compared to the rest of the top privacy coins, XMR’s gains were modest.
Monero, once the benchmark for privacy coins, remained stagnant as it faced liquidity challenges and exchange delistings stemming from regulatory scrutiny.
Zcash benefits from a dual-mode design, which offers transparent and shielded addresses.
This allows it to coexist with regulated exchanges and institutional custody providers. The hybrid model enabled ZEC to be a more palatable choice for investors seeking privacy while avoiding compliance issues.
Related: Crypto investors flee visibility for anonymity as privacy coins surge 80%
Zcash leads privacy token charge
Zcash’s charge is fueled by grassroots advocacy and high-profile endorsements from industry voices, including Arthur Hayes, Naval Ravikant, Mert Mumtaz and Threadguy, key figures who spent months rallying behind privacy as crypto’s next major narrative.
Their posts and podcasts amplified the message that Zcash’s zero-knowledge proof technology could represent a pure form of decentralized value transfer that is still viable in a tightened regulatory environment.
In Cointelegraph’s Chain Reaction show, Zcash Foundation executive director Alex Bornstein said that neither the foundation nor the Electric Coin Company paid influencers to promote ZEC. He said the recent wave of advocacy was a spontaneous cultural shift rather than a coordinated campaign.
However, not everyone is excited about Zcash. Jan3 CEO and Bitcoin advocate Samson Mow warned Zcash investors to “figure out” their positions on Thursday. Comparing Zcash to Dogecoin, Mow advised Zcash investors to use their gains to buy BTC.
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