The privacy cryptocurrency sector has become the only major category in the market trading above its level from Bitcoin's October 2025 high, according to Glassnode analysis. While Bitcoin trades 36% below that peak and the median asset among the top 200 cryptocurrencies sits 58% lower, the privacy sector has climbed 213% over the same period.
Zcash (ZEC) has driven much of the sector's ascent, gaining 2,496% and rising from the 82nd to the seventh-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization. The privacy sector's total market value has grown from $7.1 billion to $33.6 billion over the past year, nearly matching Tron's current valuation.
Sector Performance Diverges from Broader Market
Every other cryptocurrency sector remains below its October 2025 high. DeFi has declined 27% for the year, while gaming has fallen 74%. The privacy sector stands as the sole exception to this downward trend.
Over the past 30 days, all ten sectors tracked by Glassnode posted gains, with privacy leading at a 90% increase. This short-term strength reflects rapid capital inflow into privacy-focused tokens, with nearly half of the sector's annual growth occurring within the past month alone.
Growth Extends Across Multiple Assets
While Zcash dominates the sector at 62% of its total value, the rally is not confined to a single asset. All eight privacy coins with at least one year of trading history have posted gains, according to Glassnode data. Monero (XMR) has doubled in value, and Dash, Monero, and Horizen each outperformed Bitcoin over the past 90 days.
Excluding ZEC from the calculation, the cap-weighted privacy basket remains up 85% over the past year and has gained 56% since the October Bitcoin high. Among the 25 largest cryptocurrencies overall, only four trade above their October 6 price: ZEC, Hyperliquid (HYPE), XMR, and Wormhole (WBT)—two of which belong to the privacy sector.
