What’s Behind the Surge in Anonymous Cryptocurrencies

[PrivacyG]

It is a very dubious surge.  If Privacy Coins are in demand then it does not make sense that Cryptocurrencies such as Zcash or Dash are bringing more demand than Monero is.  Looking at these other two doing rounds of consecutive surges while Monero barely moves either tells a lot about how much volume and stability Monero has or some body is trying to pull forward the Shit 'Privacy' Coins as if they are the better option.

And this Reply is not even about promoting Monero but realistically, it IS the first choice if some body needs Privacy.  When you HAVE to hide, there is no place for any other Cryptocurrencies but for those that are Private By Default.  If Privacy is not default then you can make mistakes, there may be vulnerabilities retroactively affecting Privacy et cetera.

I have no idea what is going on.  If you ask me I would some body is working hard on discrediting Monero and bringing more attention to the others that are still partially transparent.

[Alpen]

Oh really? I thought they are being hunted down one by one before? But, it could also be that the listing only occurred lately when the trend about privacy coin is starting to form. There are people that likes or value their privacy more and then there are also some that don't care too much about it. For now, I would say that that majority of the people who are involved with it are only riding the hype in the hopes of earning a quick buck. Coins just don't surge randomly but every reaction must always have an action done by the people.

If a cryptocurrency breaks into the top 30 list, it means there is clear institutional demand for that coin. We can debate the reasons all day, but the smarter move is simply to HODL that asset and profit from it—especially since XMR and ZEC are currently aiming to get back into the top 10.

Personally, I’ll admit I used to be indifferent to crypto privacy; I’m not the kind of person who keeps their seed phrase under their pillow. But it absolutely infuriates me that governments are forcing us to go through KYC/AML everywhere for crypto. The rise of XMR and ZEC feels like a unique form of protest against that

[Alpen]

The Winklevoss twins announced they started a treasury company and have already bought more than 1% of Zcash’s supply. They are trying to accumulate 5% of its supply, which would be more than 1,000,000 ZEC. All the people you see on Twitter shilling Zcash as “encrypted Bitcoin” are likely early insiders in the treasury company, so you should take the marketing with a grain of salt

Fine, so the Winklevoss brothers are pumping ZEC. But as I mentioned in this thread, I've been focused on Monero. That coin has been growing smoothly for the last year and a half, without any major dips. We can conclude that the Winklevosses were simply making an arbitrage play.

[o48o]

In 2025, demand for privacy among crypto traders has surged. With Trump back in the White House and promising to introduce new crypto legislation, fears of blockchain surveillance have intensified. Meanwhile, the autumn market downturn made Zcash and Monero appealing as hedging assets.

Since September, ZEC has skyrocketed by 900%, while XMR has doubled over the same period — though demand for XMR has remained relatively stable throughout the year. Both cryptocurrencies run on independent blockchains that conceal recipient addresses and transaction amounts.

For this reason, regulators in many countries have banned them, and compliant CEXs have delisted them. Ironically, this lack of trading platforms has helped ZEC and XMR gain traction and build liquidity.

These coins might become the first in crypto history to re-enter the top 10 after such dramatic declines.

So, where can traders actually buy ZEC and XMR today?

If i had to guess, i would say that some whales are sensing that deregulation of crypto markets are more likely under Trump, and rest of the markets just follow the trend.

Imho this would be highly risky bet and short sighted. Because i am pretty sure that trump isn't aware what's what in crypto and mostly listens crypto CEOs that gave him money. But since it's unlikely that Trump would even last next year, because of his health. Next in charge might not base their decisions on if people bowed them or not.

[Odusko]

In 2025, demand for privacy among crypto traders has surged. With Trump back in the White House and promising to introduce new crypto legislation, fears of blockchain surveillance have intensified. Meanwhile, the autumn market downturn made Zcash and Monero appealing as hedging assets.

Since September, ZEC has skyrocketed by 900%, while XMR has doubled over the same period — though demand for XMR has remained relatively stable throughout the year. Both cryptocurrencies run on independent blockchains that conceal recipient addresses and transaction amounts.

For this reason, regulators in many countries have banned them, and compliant CEXs have delisted them. Ironically, this lack of trading platforms has helped ZEC and XMR gain traction and build liquidity.

These coins might become the first in crypto history to re-enter the top 10 after such dramatic declines.

So, where can traders actually buy ZEC and XMR today?

If i had to guess, i would say that some whales are sensing that deregulation of crypto markets are more likely under Trump, and rest of the markets just follow the trend.

Imho this would be highly risky bet and short sighted. Because i am pretty sure that trump isn't aware what's what in crypto and mostly listens crypto CEOs that gave him money. But since it's unlikely that Trump would even last next year, because of his health. Next in charge might not base their decisions on if people bowed them or not.

Well or well no one trust the government, and the recent Trump involvement in cryptocurrency have pave the way for quest for better cryptocurrency community and those that value privacy are keeping up to date with sourcing for projects that give them more privacy now that there is high government involvement with cryptocurrency.

[d5000]

My take is that the reason is a combination of several factors.

Some regulatory changes for 2026, like the DAC8 in the European Union and the OECD automatic information exchange update which includes cryptocurrencies, might have made people "escape" the "regulated" exchanges and coins into the "grey area" of P2P and privacy coins. Be aware that privacy coins are not banned in the EU, but exchanges are banned to use them for accounts where you can hide transactions or balances with.

In addition, a well known trader had mentioned Zcash in X just when it began to start. Zcash seems to have also made some progress technically, so that may have also helped his narrative.

And then of course that these coins surged just in a generalized weak market trend with many coins having lost 15% or more during the last month, even Bitcoin was close to that.

I also think the hype narratives of token / smart contract platforms like ETH and SOL are weakening, as there are still only very few smart contracts catering to real world needs (mainly things like algorithmic stablecoins and DEXes, and DeFi still is pure speculation). And the ETFs are already old news. This helps to concentrate the altcoin market on coins which really make a difference for users, like privacy coins.

Other coins having surged by this hype are Dash and Grin, while Zclassic, Flux and PirateChain (ARRR) have already lost traction again.

[PrivacyG]

Zcash seems to have also made some progress technically, so that may have also helped his narrative.

In my opinion.  Zcash will be useless as a 'bridge' between Bitcoin and Monero and will remain a speculation and nothing else.  In the real world when there will be a need for Privacy so strong that we will have to use Cryptocurrencies to have any freedom, there will be NO place for 'optional' Anonymity and no body will pick that as their choice.

The only advantage I see is that you do not have to swap from a Cryptocurrency to a different one if you want to move from Public to Private like you need to do when moving from Bitcoin to Monero.  Which implicitly includes the risk of possibly having less Cryptocurrency at the end of the day.  Otherwise Zcash is worth nothing to me.

[Alpen]

Imho this would be highly risky bet and short sighted. Because i am pretty sure that trump isn't aware what's what in crypto and mostly listens crypto CEOs that gave him money. But since it's unlikely that Trump would even last next year, because of his health. Next in charge might not base their decisions on if people bowed them or not.

I pretty much agree with that view entirely. / I mostly share that point of view.

[martinex]

I also think the hype narratives of token / smart contract platforms like ETH and SOL are weakening, as there are still only very few smart contracts catering to real world needs (mainly things like algorithmic stablecoins and DEXes, and DeFi still is pure speculation). And the ETFs are already old news. This helps to concentrate the altcoin market on coins which really make a difference for users, like privacy coins.

Other coins having surged by this hype are Dash and Grin, while Zclassic, Flux and PirateChain (ARRR) have already lost traction again.

This month, coins like XMR, ZEC, and DASH have attracted a lot of attention, and if we look at CMC, the most popular is ZEC. I personally see this as just a normal surge because quite a lot of traders are chasing quick profits from the current hype. The fastest-moving ones are where they enter, meaning the market is quite discerning in choosing between fast and slow-moving ones. So it's understandable that other projects like Dash and Grin, like you mentioned, are currently experiencing a decline, while Zclassic, Flux, and PirateChain (ARRR) seem to be losing momentum.

Another valid point the narrative always plays a crucial role, always present after seeing the potential, which will be tied to future policies or regulations driven by those with vested interests. Another reason is that regulatory oversight is now stricter than in the past, and they can exert certain pressure, even on top leaders, regarding oversight. Certainly, everything happens for a reason, not without a reason.

[Abiky]

In 2025, demand for privacy among crypto traders has surged. With Trump back in the White House and promising to introduce new crypto legislation, fears of blockchain surveillance have intensified. Meanwhile, the autumn market downturn made Zcash and Monero appealing as hedging assets.

Since September, ZEC has skyrocketed by 900%, while XMR has doubled over the same period — though demand for XMR has remained relatively stable throughout the year. Both cryptocurrencies run on independent blockchains that conceal recipient addresses and transaction amounts.

For this reason, regulators in many countries have banned them, and compliant CEXs have delisted them. Ironically, this lack of trading platforms has helped ZEC and XMR gain traction and build liquidity.

These coins might become the first in crypto history to re-enter the top 10 after such dramatic declines.

So, where can traders actually buy ZEC and XMR today?

ZEC has been the only privacy coin that has gotten the attention of the public. That's largely because of the actions of a few influential people and the recent decentralized swaps feature. I've read online that someone said ZEC is like insurance against BTC due to its privacy features and limited supply. ZEC has the same economics as BTC, except that all transactions are private. It's one of the main selling points of ZEC over Monero. While the latter is better in terms of privacy/anonymity, it's not as finite as BTC or ZEC.

You can actually buy ZEC in a variety of crypto exchanges these days. Coinbase, and a few others have ZEC trading pairs. Your options will be limited when buying/selling XMR, though. Especially when a large number of crypto exchanges have de-listed it. RetoSwap and Haveno remain the best choice to trade XMR in a decentralized manner.

I'd expect the hype towards privacy coins (particularly ZEC) to fade once governments declare their use to be "illegal". You'd only be permitted to use cryptocurrencies with a transparent blockchain ledger. It should only be a matter of time before this happens. Just you wait and see.

[Alpen]

ZEC has been the only privacy coin that has gotten the attention of the public. That's largely because of the actions of a few influential people and the recent decentralized swaps feature. I've read online that someone said ZEC is like insurance against BTC due to its privacy features and limited supply. ZEC has the same economics as BTC, except that all transactions are private. It's one of the main selling points of ZEC over Monero. While the latter is better in terms of privacy/anonymity, it's not as finite as BTC or ZEC.

You can actually buy ZEC in a variety of crypto exchanges these days. Coinbase, and a few others have ZEC trading pairs. Your options will be limited when buying/selling XMR, though. Especially when a large number of crypto exchanges have de-listed it. RetoSwap and Haveno remain the best choice to trade XMR in a decentralized manner.

I'd expect the hype towards privacy coins (particularly ZEC) to fade once governments declare their use to be "illegal". You'd only be permitted to use cryptocurrencies with a transparent blockchain ledger. It should only be a matter of time before this happens. Just you wait and see.

Actually, ZCash and Monero have long been banned in Dubai, South Korea, and the European Union. These countries have no intention of lifting the ban. The EU is even tightening its legislation. For instance, starting in 2027, any no-KYC cryptocurrency wallets will be prohibited in Europe

[d5000]

Actually, ZCash and Monero have long been banned in Dubai, South Korea, and the European Union.

At least in the EU, privacy coins are not "banned". It will be however illegal from 2027 on for crypto service providers (including exchanges) to offer services that allow the obfuscation of the transaction history using "privacy-enhancing" coins. This is an important difference. You can still hold and trade privacy coins on P2P exchanges, and according to the wording of the AMLR (the regulation in question), it could even be legal to offer privacy coin trading at CEX exchanges if they make sure there is a connection between deposits and withdrawals available to the authorities on request, i.e. there is no "obfuscation".

For instance, starting in 2027, any no-KYC cryptocurrency wallets will be prohibited in Europe

That prohibition only affects custodial wallets offered by centralized providers. There has been a lot of FUD around that, so it's important to clarify that too.

BTW, Monero is now again the privacy coin with the biggest market cap, and it could hold its value around and even above $400. Zcash has fallen about 30% in the last month.

[virasog]

It seems ZEC pumped so hard due to the renew of privacy narrative. If you aware how there is no big news for ZEC. Even there is also FUD about ZEC's co founder is a transgender. Logically, it was not pumping, but it got a pump due to the the change of narrative.

Also among the privacy coins, it is actually ZEC who got more hype and the reason for this is that ZEC has the ability to process the transaction on-chain or in privacy mode and this made it a perfect use case where people can show the transactions to the authorities and also hide the ones that they do not want them to become public.

Initially, when the pump started, it was too much hyped that it would reach 1000$ and beyond, and it did not happen. It may surge again in the altcoin season, but beware, do not keep it for the long term.

[o48o]

-cut-
If a cryptocurrency breaks into the top 30 list, it means there is clear institutional demand for that coin. We can debate the reasons all day, but the smarter move is simply to HODL that asset and profit from it—especially since XMR and ZEC are currently aiming to get back into the top 10.
-cut-

Interesting take, but i don't see it like that. Coins that don't comply with MICA or other regulations, but are mainly just used to evade regulations are in danger of being unlisted, and even profits that you might gain for selling them might be harder to use in the future.

It's harder for larger companies / organizations to make risky investments because they have to go trough the board and they answer to shareholders. And if you knowingly do something dangerous that compromises the value, there are consequences.

[justinlamode]

Like many people have already said which I also support, Zcash is what is creating the attention and nothing else. People are gradually adopting ZEC because of the DEX swap features. You will not see XRM in the trend like we have it in ZEC which pretty much agree with what everyone is saying. My country is introducing so many new regulations and tax system comes 2026 and there is growing interest in privacy coins since they believe that will help protect people from some of those regulations that may appear exploitative.