TLDR:
- Privacy sector up 213% since Bitcoins October high while every other sector remains lower.
- ZEC surged 2,496%, jumping from rank 82 to rank 7 among all cryptocurrencies by market cap.
- Privacy sector market cap grew from $7.1B to $33.6B, nearly matching Trons valuation today.
- Excluding ZEC, the privacy basket still gained 85% yearly, showing broad sector-wide strength.
The privacy sector has become the only major cryptocurrency category trading above its level from Bitcoins October 2025 high, according to data from Glassnode.
The privacy sector has climbed 213% since that peak, while every other segment of the market remains below its previous mark.
Zcash (ZEC) has driven much of this move, gaining 2,496% and climbing from the 82nd largest cryptocurrency to the seventh. The sectors total market capitalization has grown from $7.1 billion to $33.6 billion over the past year.
Privacy Sector Outpaces Broader Market Decline
Bitcoin currently trades 36% below its October 2025 high, 335 days after that peak was recorded. The median asset among the top 200 cryptocurrencies sits 58% below its level on that day. Against this backdrop, the privacy sector stands out as the single category that has moved higher rather than lower.
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Glassnode highlighted this divergence in a recent post on social media platform X. The firm wrote that privacy is “the trade of the year,” noting that every other sector remains below its high, ranging from DeFi at negative 27% to gaming at negative 74%.
The median altcoin is 58% below its price at the BTC high.
The privacy sector is 213% above it, and not only because of $ZEC.
The past 30 days brought gains across all ten sectors tracked by Glassnode, and the privacy sector led that short-term rally as well, rising 90% in that window.
This recent strength has not altered the yearly picture, since the privacy sector remains the lone category above its prior peak.
The sectors expansion from $7.1 billion to $33.6 billion places it near the market capitalization of Tron. Close to half of that growth occurred within the past month alone, reflecting how quickly capital has moved into privacy-focused tokens.
Growth Extends Beyond Zcash
Zcash accounts for the largest share of the sector‘s gains, rising from rank 82 to rank 7 by market capitalization. At 62% of the sector’s total value, ZEC also dominates the privacy index numerically. Monero (XMR) has doubled in value beneath it over the same period.
Glassnode noted that the rally is not confined to a single asset. All eight privacy coins with at least one year of trading history have posted gains. Across the broader top 200 list, only one in eight assets can say the same.
Excluding ZEC from the calculation, the cap-weighted privacy basket is still up 85% over the past year. It has also gained 56% since the October Bitcoin high. Over the past 90 days, Dash, Monero, and Horizen each outran Bitcoins performance.
Among the 25 largest cryptocurrencies overall, only four trade above their October 6 price: ZEC, Hyperliquid (HYPE), XMR, and Wormhole (WBT).
Two of those four belong to the privacy sector. HYPEs gains are described as a standalone case, since DeFi as a category sits at negative 46% for the year without it.