GlassNode: Privacy sector market cap soars to $3.36 billion, becoming the only crypto category to reach a new all-time high

According to the latest market analysis report released by digital asset market intelligence platform Glassnode, Bitcoin has continued to decline, and after 335 days, its trading price is still 36% below the historical high set in October 2025. 

The weakness has spread across the entire digital asset market, with median prices of the top 200 cryptocurrencies down 58% from their October peak. All major sectors have prices far below their market highs, from decentralized finance (DeFi) down 27% to gaming down 74%. The only exception is the privacy sector, which has not only recovered but also surged 213% in valuation compared to October 2025.

Over the past year, the privacy coin market has soared from about $710 million to $3.36 billion, a market cap now equivalent to that of Tron. Nearly half of this growth occurred in the past 30 days, with the sector surging as much as 90%, outperforming all other sectors. However, this recent acceleration has not changed the fundamental distinction in the overall market: the privacy coin sector remains the only one with trading prices higher than previous peaks, while all other sectors are still trading below their October levels.

ZEC Leads, but Industry Breadth Remains Defi Single Coin Narrative

Researchers further point out that Zcash is the primary driver of this expansion, achieving a year-to-date return of 2,496% and rising from 82nd to 7th in market cap ranking. Currently, this asset accounts for 62% of the entire privacy sector's market cap. However, the rally extends well beyond Zcash alone. 

All eight privacy coins with at least one year of trading history have risen this year. Even excluding ZEC, the sector’s market cap-weighted index is still up 85% year-to-date and up 56% from Bitcoin's all-time high. Monero (XMR) has doubled in price over the same period, while Dash (DASH) and Horizen (ZEN) both outperformed Bitcoin over the past 90 days.

A comparison of short- and long-term market breadth highlights the unique position of the privacy sector. Although only 25 of the top 200 assets have posted positive returns this year (with the median down 55%), 91.5% of those 200 assets rose last month, marking the largest single-month gain ever. 

Analysts note that among the 25 largest cryptocurrencies by market cap, only four are trading above their October 6 levels: ZEC, HYPE, XMR, and WBT; privacy coins make up half of these four. The performance gap between sectors has also widened to levels last seen in November 2025, indicating that despite the recent broad-based rebound, this year's gains remain concentrated in a category that has consistently shown relative strength throughout the market cycle.