Monero Dominates Privacy Coin Market Cap While Zcash Plunges Below $400

Monero just cemented its throne as the undisputed king of privacy coins—while Zcash stumbles through a brutal sell-off.

Market Moves: The Great Privacy Shakeout

Forget subtle shifts. This is a full-scale regime change in the shadowy corridors of crypto. Monero's market cap now towers over its rivals, a testament to its unwavering focus on fungibility and decentralized, mandatory privacy. Meanwhile, Zcash—the once-high-flying project with optional privacy—watches its price crater below the $400 psychological barrier. That's not a dip; it's a collapse.

The Tech Behind the Throne

Monero doesn't ask for permission. Its ring signatures and stealth addresses obfuscate every transaction by default, creating a uniform pool of untraceable coins. Zcash, with its selective transparency, created a two-tier system. Guess which one regulators and exchanges find easier to target? The market is casting its vote, and it's not looking for compromises.

Investor Takeaway: Privacy Isn't a Feature, It's the Foundation

The narrative is flipping. In a world of increasing surveillance, true digital cash needs anonymity at its core, not as a check-box option. Monero's lead isn't just about price—it's about philosophical purity winning in a market that's finally growing up. Zcash's stumble signals a harsh truth: half-measures get slaughtered when the regulatory wolves come knocking. As one fund manager quipped, 'Optional privacy is like a waterproof watch that melts in the rain—great for the brochure, useless in the storm.'

XMR returned as the most valuable coin, with a price of $456.39, trading within its usual range. The coin took the top spot after ZEC had a deeper correction in the past week after the developer team abandoned the project over governance disputes. 

As a result, ZEC had a volatile price swing, sinking to a local low of $395.85. In the past day, ZEC regained nearly 10% to $434.13, but is still valued lower, at $7.14B total market cap. XMR traded at $8.42B in total market capitalization. 

Can ZEC recover? 

ZEC showed signs of recovery in the short term, but is still over $1B behind the valuation of Monero. The ZCash project will also have to rebuild its reputation after failing in its task to rally to over $1,000. 

ZEC was also showing signs that its success mostly hinged on the actions of influencers and a handful of whale buyers. The token is yet to prove its effect on decentralized finance and the willingness of retail to hold. 

There are still over 4.87M ZEC staked in the most high-security veiled vault, the Orchard pool. Despite the ZEC downturn, there are no signs of panic withdrawals. Privacy is still seen as an important issue in crypto activity, especially after tax authorities are trying to increase their scrutiny to wallets. 

Additionally, the developer team of the Electric Coin Company (ECC) has not completely abandoned ZEC. They have announced the formation of a new wallet and a privacy company, still expected to support ZCash. 

Miners are also supporting the coin, with hashrate expanding to a new all-time high.  

Can Monero drive the privacy coin narrative?

Monero has behaved as a legacy coin, with no specific support from influencers or investors. XMR expanded based on the overall performance of the crypto market. 

The behavior of ZEC has also sparked predictions that XMR could perform a similar rally after years of consolidation. Monero can still ride the privacy narrative, based on predictions of demand for disguising ownership.

Monero’s hashrate is also close to an all-time high with constant expansion in the last few months. Mining is also a way to gain new privacy coins with no connections to other wallets. 

XMR is still traded mostly on international exchanges and is avoided by US-based and EU market operators. For now, Monero has not made attempts to join the DeFi space or offer tokenized versions like ZEC.

XMR holders are introducing the narrative of the coin as a store of value, despite its ban on European platforms due to money laundering laws.

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