Privacy coins have become the only crypto sector to break above its prior peak, according to Glassnode, even as Bitcoin remains 36% below its October 2025 all-time high and the median asset in the top 200 by market capitalization is still down 58% from its own peak.
The report says 335 days have passed since Bitcoin’s October 2025 high. Over that stretch, the privacy coin segment has risen 213%, standing apart from the rest of the market.
Only one sector has cleared its previous high
Glassnode said every other major sector remains below earlier highs. DeFi is down 27% from its previous top, while gaming is down 74%.
Over the past 30 days, all 10 major sectors posted rebounds, with privacy coins leading that move as well, up 90% over the month. But the broad rally did not change the bigger picture. Privacy coins are still the only sector to set a new high, while all others remain below prior peaks.
A sector now worth $33.6 billion
One year ago, privacy coins inside the top 200 had a combined market capitalization of $7.1 billion. That figure has now climbed to $33.6 billion, a size Glassnode said is close to the market capitalization of TRON. Nearly half of the increase came in the past 30 days.
Zcash accounted for most of the advance inside the sector. Its market cap ranking rose from No. 82 to No. 7 over the same period. Monero’s market capitalization doubled.
ZEC led the surge, but the move was not limited to one token
Over the past year, ZEC gained 2,496% and came to represent 62% of the privacy sector’s total market capitalization, giving it a dominant weight in the sector index.
Glassnode said the rally was broader than a single-asset spike. All eight privacy coins that have been listed for at least one year posted gains. By contrast, only one-eighth of the assets in the top 200 recorded gains over the same span.
Even excluding ZEC, the market-cap-weighted privacy coin basket is still up 85% on the year. Measured from Bitcoin’s high in October last year, that basket is up 56%. Over the past 90 days, DASH, XMR, and ZEN all outperformed Bitcoin.
Only four top-25 assets are above the October 6 high from last year
Among the 25 largest crypto assets by market capitalization, only four are trading above their October 6 high from last year: ZEC, HYPE, XMR, and WBT. Two of those four are privacy coins.
Glassnode described HYPE as an idiosyncratic move. Excluding HYPE, the DeFi sector is down 46% on the year. Major assets such as Ethereum and Dogecoin remain below their earlier highs.
A broad 30-day rebound, but few annual winners
Across the top 200, 91.5% of assets rose over the past 30 days, making it the broadest monthly advance in this dataset. That said, only 25 assets are in positive territory on a one-year basis, and the median asset is down 55% over the year.
Glassnode also said the dispersion in 30-day returns across the 10 sector indexes reached its highest level since Nov. 20, 2025.
Its conclusion was direct: the last month brought a broad rebound, but on a yearly basis the market’s gains remain heavily concentrated in a single segment, privacy coins.
The piece was attributed to Glassnode and translated by Chopper of Foresight News. PANews said the article reflects the author’s views and does not represent the outlet’s position or constitute investment advice.