The market capitalization of privacy-focused cryptocurrencies has surged, surpassing $10 billion. This significant increase, observed over a 24-hour period, highlights a renewed investor interest in digital assets designed to enhance transaction anonymity and user privacy. While Monero (XMR) continues to lead the sector in overall market value, Zcash (ZEC) has experienced a notable price appreciation, nearly 65% within the same timeframe.
This upward trend in privacy tokens, also known as anonymous cryptocurrencies or anonymizing crypto assets (AECs), is attributed to their core functionality: obscuring transaction details such as sender, receiver, amounts, and wallet balances. These features appeal to a range of users seeking to protect financial privacy, ensure security in high-risk environments, maintain business confidentiality, and support activism or whistleblowing activities. The segment’s total market capitalization, according to CoinGecko data, reached $10.2 billion with a daily trading volume of $1.94 billion at the time of reporting.
Monero remains the dominant player within this niche, holding a market capitalization exceeding $5.84 billion. Following Monero are Zcash, with nearly $2.3 billion, and then Beldex (BDX), Dash (DASH), and Decred (DCR), with market caps above $590 million, $405 million, and $309 million, respectively. Among individual tokens, MUTE SWAP by Virtuals saw a remarkable surge of over 102.5% in a single day, while Zcash demonstrated substantial growth, nearing 65% in the past 24 hours and over 149% weekly, pushing its price above $146.
The growing institutional appeal for privacy coins like Zcash can be linked to factors such as the development of investment vehicles like the Grayscale Zcash Trust (ZCSH) and the underlying zk-SNARKs technology. This advanced cryptographic technique is particularly valued by institutional investors who prioritize transaction confidentiality. Despite the privacy focus, it is important to acknowledge that these same features can also attract illicit activities, a point of concern for regulators.
Conflicting data from CoinMarketCap presents a broader perspective, indicating a total market capitalization for this asset category exceeding $62 billion with a trading volume of $9.5 billion. This source lists Monero (XMR), Worldcoin (WLD), Zcash (ZEC), Immutable (IMX), and PancakeSwap (CAKE) among the top anonymous cryptocurrencies. At the time of analysis, Monero was trading around $320.
The regulatory landscape for privacy tokens is becoming increasingly complex. In early 2024, prominent exchanges like Binance and OKX flagged Monero and Zcash as “high-risk assets,” initiating monitoring periods and, in OKX’s case, considering delisting. Further impacting the sector, new Anti-Money Laundering (AML) regulations adopted by the EU in May 2025 will prohibit the circulation of anonymous coins on regulated platforms starting in 2027, specifically targeting transactions through mixers and privacy-enhancing crypto assets.
Additionally, projects like Worldcoin, which aims to provide a global digital identity, have faced regulatory scrutiny. In May 2024, Hong Kong’s regulator identified privacy rule violations by the project. Subsequently, in September of the same year, South Korean authorities fined Worldcoin and its parent company, Tools for Humanity, $830,000 for breaches related to personal data collection. Singaporean police have also investigated the illicit trading of Worldcoin accounts.
Blockchain developer and writer, Daniel combines hands-on coding experience with accessible storytelling. He holds multiple blockchain certifications and authors technical explainers, protocol deep-dives, and developer tutorials to help readers navigate the intersection of code and finance.