Privacy sector surges 213% as Zcash leads crypto recovery

• The Privacy sector has gained 213% since its October peak, while DeFi and Gaming remain below their all-time highs.
• Zcash climbed from 82nd to seventh among top cryptocurrencies by market capitalization.
• Despite 91.5% of the top 200 cryptocurrencies recording gains over the past 30 days, only 25 remain above their October 6 levels.

Zcash (ZEC) has pushed the privacy sector to become the strongest-performing segment of the crypto market since Bitcoin's (BTC) October peak.

Privacy tokens gain 213% as Bitcoin trades 36% below all-time high levels

The privacy sector has gained 213% since the October 6 crypto market peak last year, outperforming Bitcoin and other top crypto sectors which remain below ATH levels. DeFi is down 27%, while Gaming fell the most, down 74%, according to a Glassnode report on Monday.

The gap has persisted despite a broad-based recovery over the past month. All 10 sectors recorded gains over the last 30 days, with privacy again leading the market with a 90% surge.

"A month of broad gains has not changed the split: privacy above the high, everything else below it," Glassnode stated.

ZEC surges over $1000 as privacy market cap nears $34 billion

The privacy sector has also expanded in market size, with privacy-based tokens in the top 200 climbing from $7.1 billion a year ago to $33.6 billion, putting them roughly on par with Tron (TRX). Almost half of that increase occurred over the past 30 days, highlighting the intensity of the recent rotation into privacy assets.

ZEC has driven much of the expansion, climbing from 82nd place by market capitalization to seventh. Monero (XMR), the second-largest privacy asset, has also doubled over the same period.

“ZEC's +2,496% dominates the picture, and at 62% of the sector's capitalization it dominates the index as well,” the report noted.

Excluding ZEC, the cap-weighted privacy basket has gained 85% over the past year and 56% since Bitcoin's October high. Over the past 90 days, Dash (DASH), Monero and Horizen (ZEN) have each outperformed Bitcoin.

The concentration of gains becomes clearer when looking across the broader crypto market.

Only four of the 25 largest assets currently trade above their October 6 levels, including ZEC, Hyperliquid (HYPE), XMR and WhiteBIT Coin (WBT). Notably, two of these four assets are privacy cryptocurrencies.

HYPE represents a notable exception. Without the token, the DeFi sector would be down 46% over the year.

“HYPE is a single-name story: DeFi is -46% on the year without it. Every major, from ETH to DOGE, remains below the high,” the report added.

Meanwhile, recent gains have been much broader. Glassnode highlighted that 91.5% of the top 200 crypto posted positive returns over the past 30 days, marking the broadest monthly advance in the dataset's history.

"The past month's bounce is broad. The year's return belongs to one sector," the firm noted.

ZEC is trading at $1,169, down 1.8% in the past 24 hours at the time of writing.