Zcash surges 300% in 2 weeks leading privacy token resurgence
By Hannah Perez
ZEC from Zcash, a privacy-focused cryptocurrency project, has skyrocketed over 300% in the last 2 weeks. Other privacy tokens also rise and winners of the 2017-18 cycle revive.
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- ZEC from Zcash, a privacy-focused crypto project, has skyrocketed over 300% in 2 weeks.
- Renewed interest in privacy tokens? Tornado Cash’s TORN benefits, but Monero does not.
- Also the cryptocurrencies that gained in the 2017-18 cycle are seeing an unexpected rebirth.
- The gains of ZEC, DASH, TORN and others contrast with the losses of Bitcoin, Ethereum.
🚀 Zcash (ZEC) shoots up more than 300% in just 2 weeks
Interest in privacy tokens resurfaces amid financial surveillance.
ZEC hits a new year high at USD $268.91.
Other tokens like TORN and DASH are also seeing notable increases.
Despite this,… pic.twitter.com/hIICfxWJnB
— Diario฿itcoin (@DiarioBitcoin) October 10, 2025
In a cryptocurrency market dominated by the bearish trend, Zcash (ZEC) has gone in the opposite direction, experiencing a meteoric rise of 20% in its price over the last 24 hours.
This unexpected rally has propelled the privacy-focused cryptocurrency to a multi-year high of $268.91 on Friday, positioning it as the best-performing large-cap token on the market.
According to data from CoinGecko, ZEC has accumulated a growth of 47.5% in the week and more than 325% in the last 14 days, highlighting renewed interest in digital assets that prioritize anonymity and leading tokens in the 2017-18 bull cycle.
ZEC’s trading volume also reflected this enthusiasm, rising more than 60% on the day to reach USD$1.4 billion, according to information provided by CoinMarketCap.
Renewed interest in private cryptocurrencies
Zcash is not the only one to benefit from this trend. Similarly, TORN tokens from Tornado Cash and RAIL Railgun –both protocols focused on privacy and anonymity– have recorded increases between 30% and 60% on the day, with RAIL ensuring gains of over 200% on the week, according to CoinGecko.
This led some observers to link the reaction to recent concerns about financial surveillance and censorship, factors that, as noted The Blockcould be favoring the narrative of privacy tools in the crypto ecosystem.
However, not all privacy assets have participated equally in this rally. Monero (XMR), considered a flagship cryptocurrency in the sector, has shown a modest increase of less than 1% on the day and 1.5% on the week. The project released this Friday the update ‘Fluorine Fermi’which significantly strengthens users’ protection against spy nodes, which appeared to help push its price to a three-week high of $347 overnight before a correction towards $339.
Experts such as Thor Torrens, a member of the Zcash advisory panel, have noted that the increase in global surveillance and censorship is making privacy increasingly valuable. “Surveillance and censorship are increasing, not decreasing“said Torrens, adding that events such as regulatory debates in Europe and new wallet integrations for shielded transactions in Zcash are catalyzing this renewed interest.
Furthermore, the next halving cycle of Zcash is mentioned as a potential factor for further increase down the road. Despite these advances, Zcash It remains 92% below its all-time high of USD $3,191 in 2016.
Forgotten tokens from 2017-18 cycle rise
On the other hand, some flagship tokens from the 2017-2018 bull period also replicated the gains. Dash (DASH), for example, is up more than 44% in 24 hours, recovering price levels last seen last December. Cryptocurrencies Litecoin (LTC) rose 12% and Decred (DCR) has increased by 15%, according to data from CoinGecko.
Certain analysts have attributed this high volume to a capital rotation towards forgotten narratives of the bull market of 2018such as privacy and anonymity, in a context where Bitcoin and Ethereum show signs of cooling after recent highs.
This resurgence of tokens that seemed forgotten is part of a broader market of losses, with Bitcoin (BTC) trading below USD $122,000 in a drop of 1.2% in the last 24 hours. Ethereum (ETH), the second largest cryptocurrency, has corrected close to 1%, reaching around USD $4,343 at the time of publication.
The total volume of crypto trading has reached annual records this 2025 amid all-time highs for BTC and ETH, surpassing USD $9.72 trillion in August, and where the implied volatility of Bitcoin has hit 2.5 month highs. BTC broke a new record high of $126,000 on the charts on Monday, but momentum has since cooled, rippling through the rest of the market.
The total cryptocurrency market capitalization is 1.2% lower on the day to USD $4.24 billion. As the industry searches for new narratives – from AI to memes to infrastructure – privacy is emerging as a “return to the roots” amid economic uncertainties and complex global geopolitical developments.
Article written with the help of AI, edited by DailyBitcoin
Image from Unsplash
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