In the past month, the market has experienced a broad rebound, but the profit effect on an annual basis is highly concentrated in the privacy sector.

Written by: glassnode

Translated by: Chopper, Foresight News

Bitcoin has fallen 36% from its historical peak in October 2025, with 335 days passing since then. Among the top 200 crypto assets by market capitalization, the median price has retreated 58% from the peak.

However, one sector stands out and has reached new highs: the privacy coin sector, which has seen an overall increase of 213%.

The only sector outperforming historical highs

All other sectors are below their previous highs: the DeFi sector has fallen 27%, while the gaming sector has dropped as much as 74%. Over the past 30 days, all ten sectors have rebounded, with the privacy sector also leading this round of market activity, rising 90% within 30 days. The month-long broad rally has not changed the market differentiation pattern: only the privacy coin sector has reached a new high, while all other sectors remain below their peaks.

A $34 billion scale sector

A year ago, the total market capitalization of privacy coins within the top 200 was $7.1 billion; it has now reached $33.6 billion, nearing the total market cap of TRON, with nearly half of the market cap increase coming from the past 30 days. ZEC (Zcash) contributed the majority of the increase, with its market cap ranking soaring from 82nd to 7th; during the same period, XMR (Monero) doubled in market cap.

Not reliant on a single coin

In the past year, ZEC has surged by 2496%, accounting for 62% of the total market cap of the privacy sector, holding an absolute dominant position in the sector index.

However, this round of market activity is not solely driven by a single coin. All eight privacy coins that have been listed for over a year have seen an increase; in contrast, only one-eighth of the top 200 coins have recorded an increase. Excluding ZEC, the market-weighted privacy coin portfolio still has an annual increase of 85%, rising 56% since the Bitcoin peak in October of last year. In the past 90 days, DASH, XMR, and ZEN have all outperformed Bitcoin.

Which assets have achieved positive returns

Among the top 25 assets by market capitalization, only 4 have prices higher than the peak on October 6 of last year: ZEC, HYPE, XMR, WBT, with two of them being privacy coins.

HYPE belongs to an independent individual market; excluding HYPE, the DeFi sector has seen an overall decline of 46% this year. Mainstream cryptocurrencies like Ethereum and Dogecoin are still below their previous highs.

Market differentiation and the scope of broad increases

Among the top 200 cryptocurrencies, 91.5% have recorded an increase in the past 30 days, marking the broadest scope of growth under this statistical dimension for a month. However, on an annual basis, only 25 cryptocurrencies have seen an increase, with the median decline of the assets being 55%.

The 30-day gain and loss dispersion of the top ten sector indices has reached the highest level since November 20, 2025.

In conclusion, the market has seen a broad rebound in the past month, but the profit effect on an annual basis is highly concentrated in a single sector: privacy coins.