The premium cryptocurrencies may have lost all of their yearly gains amid the ongoing correction, but Zcash (CRYPTO: ZEC) has stood tall, delivering impressive returns throughout 2025.
Zcash Leaves Market Heavyweights In The Dust
The privacy-focused cryptocurrency has exploded 600% year-to-date, making it by far the market’s largest gainer in 2025.
ZEC hit a yearly peak of $698 last month before experiencing a steep decline. Despite this, it still leads the charts, with OKB (CRYPTO: OKB) holding a distant second place, delivering 121% returns thus far.
The token’s gains have been in sharp contrast to the performance of large-cap assets like Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) and Ethereum (CRYPTO: ETH), which are down 3.79% and 6.81%, respectively, year-to-date.
| Cryptocurrency | YTD Gains +/- | Price (Recorded at 12:30 a.m. ET) |
|---|---|---|
| Zcash | +600% | $396.00 |
|
OKB |
+121% | $109.07 |
| Bitcoin | -3.79% | $89,850.98 |
| Ethereum | -6.81% | $3,103.76 |
See Also: Bitcoin (BTC) Price Predictions: 2025, 2026, 2030
Arthur Hayes’ Hot Pick
BitMEX co-founder Arthur Hayes predicted in October that the token could rally to $10,000, calling it the next major rotation play. In a CoinDesk interview last month, he labeled ZEC "Bitcoin with complete privacy" and disclosed that he owns a lot of it.
The Privacy Coin Boom
ZEC’s rally has been supported by a broader interest in privacy-focused cryptocurrencies, including Monero (CRYPTO: XMR) and Dash (CRYPTO: DASH), which have also witnessed strong growth this year.
Privacy coins obscure sender, receiver, and transaction data, offering anonymity that Bitcoin and other leading cryptocurrencies cannot. Personal data protection is the main goal of privacy-oriented coins.
Interestingly, on-chain analytics firm Arkham said it has labeled more than 50% of Zcash’s shielded and unshielded transactions. The U.S. government was found to hold 3,692 ZEC tokens, worth $1.47 million, seized from AlphaBay Founder Alexandre Cazes.
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