A return to basics is emerging as market participants become aware of the privacy aspects of the crypto ecosystem, returning attention to what dominated much of the 2017-2018 bull market cycle.
Tokens in the sector are up 15% on average over the past 24 hours, according to CoinGecko data. is up more than 40%, bringing seven gains over 85% in a run that has made it the best-performing large-cap token on the market.
The performance of the ZEC is accompanied by an increase in , , And which are up 13-35% in the last 24 hours. Privacy smart contract system Railgun’s RAIL token is up over 117%, with one-week gains of over 300%. Volumes are increasing across the board, with ZEC alone generating $1.1 billion in spot volumes over the past day across all exchanges.
What stands out is how capital is turning to the once-forgotten privacy sector at precisely the moment when broader liquidity is seeking a new narrative and the majors are catching their breath. Bitcoin is cooling just below $122,000, ether is trading at $4,350 and the majors are flat after hitting new highs earlier in the week.
Rising prices due to technology
The mechanics are simple. Monero’s XMR remains the default privacy play, but outsized gains are coming from tokens with catalysts. Monero developers released the “Fluorine Fermi” update earlier on Friday to improve user privacy against spying nodes.
Railgun’s rise reflects a renewed focus on its smart contract-based shielded transactions, while Zcash’s rally has been supported by integrations through Zashi, its mobile wallet that now supports cross-chain swaps in shielded ZEC.
Dash, long considered a relic, has suddenly surged as traders revisit its payments brand at a time when stablecoin regulation is back in the conversation.
The flows suggest a positioning for the longest regulatory arc. As ETF allocations drive bitcoin higher, altcoin offerings have followed the narratives – AI, memes, infrastructure and now privacy.
The fact that privacy tokens are showing multi-day strength suggests that this is not just a one-time pump.
In previous bull markets, privacy tokens caught fire when surveillance or compliance made headlines. The current situation seems similar: the US government shutdown has blocked economic data, central banks have adopted a dovish stance, and debates over financial censorship have resumed.
This context makes it easier for privacy exchanges to align with the Bitcoin hedging narrative.
