Privacy Coins Monero, Zcash Lead Crypto Market Rebound

Top privacy coins like Monero and Zcash are surging in price today, with several of them posting overnight gains of 10 to 20%.

The largest privacy coin Monero, which has a market capitalization of over $3.5 billion, shot up 18.8% in the last 24 hours and trades for around $195.43. Despite the rise, that’s still about 64% short of its former all-time high of $517, set back in May 2021, according to CoinMarketCap. 

Zcash is up 17.6% today and trades for $131.87 at the time of writing. Like Monero, it’s still far from recapturing its former all-time high of $5,941, which was set back in October 2016.

Oasis, Secret and Horizon, respectively the third-, fourth- and fifth-biggest privacy coins by market capitalization, are also rallying hard. Oasis posted overnight gains of 10.4% to hit $0.24, Secret rose 14.5% to hit $4.9, while Horizen jumped 17% to $41.14. 

Even outside the well-known privacy coins, various alternatives are rallying by similar stretches. Pirate Chain is up 18%, Verge is up 24.7% and Dero is up 16.3% – all in the last 24 hours. 

Privacy coins vary in method and utility, but broadly speaking, they use cryptographic techniques to obscure identifying information like addresses and transaction amounts from prying eyes.

Zcash and Monero both use a cryptographic technique called zero-knowledge proofs, which lets users make transactions without specifying any details about the transactions in question, other than the fact that they are legitimate. While Monero only allows for private transactions, Zcash also allows for public ones.

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Privacy coins jump on political news

As crypto becomes more mainstream, various governments around the world think now would be a prudent time to start drafting legislation to minimize any potential damage the developing digital economy might have on traditional financial markets. 

Legislators are also seeking safeguards for common investors against adverse market movements and actors.

The Biden administration has just released more details from an executive order from the White House this week to help clarify and coordinate the roles of agencies such as the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) with regards to crypto.

Elsewhere, Elizabeth Warren and three other Democratic senators announced that they would be drafting  a "new bill to ensure crypto isn't used by Putin and his cronies to undermine our economic sanctions." Initial reporting of the new bill indicates that it would "seek to make it easier" to identify users who move money between private crypto wallets like MetaMask or WalletConnect.

Meanwhile, Russia’s central bank yesterday banned foreign currency withdrawals of over $10,000 until September 9, to slow the outflow of capital after the international community imposed heavy economic sanctions following Putin’s decision to invade Ukraine. 

With crypto falling under the microscope like never before, market activity suggests that investors may very well be flocking to more privacy-centric cryptocurrencies.