Key Takeaways
- Capital shifted to privacy coins in September, with ZEC gaining 64% and NEAR surging 166%.
- Product debuts like Bitwise’s Sept. 29 NEAR ETF launch boost near-term market sentiment.
- Network issues caused ZANO to slide 20% in September, widening its YTD losses to 40% on Oct. 1.
Zcash Surges Into Top 10
Privacy coins again outperformed the rest of the cryptocurrency market in September as capital rotated away from underperforming high-cap altcoins. Market data showed that several privacy coins logged gains in excess of 30%, far exceeding bitcoin’s 7% growth and the roughly 12% rise in overall altcoin market capitalization.
Leading the privacy coin market were Zcash (ZEC), which reached levels last seen in 2016, and NEAR, whose price more than doubled. ZEC climbed from just under $860 on Sept. 1 to a multi-year peak of $1,687.78 on Sept. 27 before easing to $1,393 by Sept. 30. During its run, ZEC’s market capitalization surged past $20 billion, briefly securing it a spot among the top 10 digital assets.
Despite a late-month pullback, ZEC closed September up over 64%, extending its year-to-date gain to 170%. By comparison, Bitcoin’s recent rally narrowed its year-to-date losses but failed to erase them, leaving its Sept. 30 price 4.5% below where it opened Jan. 1. Alongside retail demand, ZEC was fueled by short squeezes and momentum from the launch of a Grayscale exchange-traded fund (ETF).
While ZEC grabbed headlines, NEAR was one of the month’s top-performing privacy coins by percentage gain. After starting the year near $1.51 and spending most of it under $2, NEAR broke out in early September to top $3 by mid-month.
NEAR Breaks out on ETF Catalyst
The bullish momentum accelerated through late September, culminating in NEAR breaching the psychological $5 barrier on Sept. 27 and locking in an explosive 166% monthly gain. Parallel to Zcash, NEAR’s parabolic run was catalyzed by speculation over Bitwise’s proposed ETF, alongside accelerating adoption of the “NEAR Intents” cross-chain transaction framework. With Bitwise officially launching the fund on Sept. 29, institutional inflow potential is expected to anchor NEAR’s bullish trajectory well into the fourth quarter.
Other privacy-focused tokens posting strong September gains included Litecoin (LTC), up 37%; NIGHT, up 135%; and Dash (DASH), which jumped 30%. Monero (XMR) was one of the few tokens in the category that failed to keep pace, rising a modest 3%.
Zano (ZANO) was among the market’s worst performers, ending September down 20%. Losses accelerated after the protocol implemented a 30-day blockchain rollback to patch an inflation bug. Although the network has since stabilized, ZANO continued to slide on Oct. 1, stretching its year-to-date decline to 40%.
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