Zcash has surged over 700% since late September 2025, surpassing Monero as the top privacy coin by market capitalization. This resurgence highlights a shift back to crypto's roots in untraceable digital cash, driven by regulatory pressures and user demand for surveillance resistance. Privacy coins are outperforming amid a broader market downturn.
In the second half of 2025, privacy coins have emerged as market leaders, contrasting with the stagnation in Bitcoin and Ether prices. Zcash (ZEC) reached $474.21, marking a 741% increase since September 28, while Monero (XMR) climbed to $343.52, up 54% since August. Other privacy-oriented projects like Decred (DCR) at $43.30 rose 145%, and Dash (DASH) at $103.33 gained 337% in recent weeks. Meanwhile, Bitcoin (BTC) fell to $103,679.45 and Ether (ETH) to $3,411.19, reflecting a rotation away from risk assets toward privacy-focused ones.
This trend follows a regulatory reckoning, including the Tornado Cash cases. In August 2025, a New York jury convicted co-founder Roman Storm of operating an unlicensed money-transmitting business but acquitted him on money-laundering charges. In the Netherlands, developer Alexey Pertsev received a five-year sentence on similar grounds. However, the U.S. Treasury delisted Tornado Cash from sanctions in March 2025, signaling challenges in applying sanctions to decentralized software.
Zcash's growth stems from technological advancements making privacy default. Per CoinDesk Research, about one-quarter of ZEC's circulating supply is now in shielded addresses, with roughly a third of transactions involving the encrypted pool. The Zashi wallet enforces private transfers as standard, expanding the anonymity set. Project Tachyon, led by Sean Bowe, aims to enable thousands of private transactions per second.
Unlike mixers like Tornado Cash, Zcash uses zero-knowledge proofs for built-in privacy with optional transparency via viewing keys. On-chain data shows the shielded pool holding 25-30% of supply, its largest share since launch. This revival underscores crypto's return to cypherpunk ideals of permissionless, untraceable transactions amid rising surveillance concerns.