According to @CryptoKing4Ever, Monero (XMR) hit a new all-time high of 672 dollars, shared on X on Jan 13, 2026, source: @CryptoKing4Ever on X, Jan 13, 2026. The post characterizes the move as privacy season, indicating bullish sentiment toward privacy coins, source: @CryptoKing4Ever on X, Jan 13, 2026. The update does not include exchange or timeframe details, making 672 dollars the reference price cited by the author, source: @CryptoKing4Ever on X, Jan 13, 2026.

According to Santiment (@santimentfeed), Monero (XMR) surged 44% over the past 8 days, reaching a $608 all-time high. According to Santiment, the privacy coin sector has led market performance over the last three months, with XMR at the forefront while Zcash has lagged. According to Santiment, traders should consider entries after social hype and FOMO ease and monitor crowd FOMO and social dominance metrics to time buy or sell opportunities.

According to the source, Monero (XMR) set a new record price, marking a fresh all-time high. According to the source, the move is framed as part of a re-emerging privacy trade, indicating renewed market focus on privacy-centric cryptocurrencies. According to the source, the update was published on January 12, 2026.

According to @santimentfeed, Zcash ZEC surged roughly 15x beginning in October and, despite a retrace, remains about 969 percent higher over the four months since @Xfinancebull’s post, source: @santimentfeed on X, Jan 9, 2026. KOLs_Tracker noted ZEC cooled after a meteoric run but showed sustained strength versus BTC over recent months, underscoring the timing of the early bullish call, source: KOLs_Tracker on X as cited by @santimentfeed, Jan 9, 2026. Santiment highlighted its Sanitizer leaderboard to objectively measure influencer accuracy, offering traders a data-backed way to validate KOL signals before positioning in ZEC and privacy coins, source: @santimentfeed on X, Jan 9, 2026.

According to the source, the claim is that privacy-focused cryptocurrencies slipped while the broader crypto market recovered (source: user-shared X post dated Jan 5, 2026). Under the stated requirements, the linked outlet cannot be used as a citation, and no alternative primary data or acceptable source was provided (source: conversation instructions). To produce a trading-oriented, verified summary with proper citations, please share one of the following: 1) intraday/daily price and volume for major privacy coins (e.g., XMR, ZEC, DASH) versus BTC and total market cap from an exchange or market data provider (source options: Binance, Kraken, Coinbase, CoinGecko, CoinMarketCap); 2) order book or liquidity changes showing underperformance (source options: exchange market data portals); or 3) a non-crypto-media primary source such as an exchange announcement or regulator notice that contextualizes price action (source options: exchange status pages, SEC/FINMA/FCA websites).

According to @santimentfeed, the latest top 10 privacy coins by development activity are 1) DASH up, 2) NYM down, 3) HOPR flat, 4) ZEC flat, 5) DCR flat, 6) DUSK up, 7) XMR down, 8) XVG up, 9) ANYONE up, 10) BDX down, based on filtered GitHub metrics, source: @santimentfeed on X, Dec 29, 2025. @sanitmentfeed states its methodology filters notable GitHub activity to reduce noise and is positioned as useful for crypto trading, source: Santiment Medium methodology article A different look into blockchain ecosystem development activity. Traders can track the dedicated privacy project watchlist to compare development activity with other metrics for sector screening, source: Santiment privacy watchlist on app.santiment.net. Rank increases for DASH, DUSK, XVG, and ANYONE versus declines for NYM, XMR, and BDX can inform relative-strength and momentum screens within privacy coins, source: @santimentfeed on X, Dec 29, 2025.

According to @CoinMarketCap, privacy coins fell sharply during the latest crypto market pullback and moved in tandem with Bitcoin (BTC), undermining the sector’s safe-haven narrative (source: CoinMarketCap). Based on this observed tandem move, traders should treat privacy coins as correlated risk assets during BTC-led drawdowns and adjust hedges, correlation assumptions, and position sizing to manage beta and liquidity risk (source: CoinMarketCap).

According to @santimentfeed, the latest privacy coin development activity ranking shows NYM (1), DASH (2), HOPR (3), ZEC (4), DCR (5), XMR (6), DUSK (7), CCX (8), BDX (9), and FIRO (10), with upward movement indicators for all ten projects since the prior update, source: @santimentfeed. According to @santimentfeed, its methodology filters notable GitHub repository contributions to reduce noise and is presented as useful for crypto trading analysis, source: @santimentfeed. According to @santimentfeed, traders can use the dedicated privacy project watchlist to analyze which projects stand out based on development activity alongside other vital metrics for watchlist construction and timing, source: @santimentfeed.

According to Eric Balchunas, Zcash (ZEC) carries third-party candidate dynamics and backing it instead of consolidating into the main asset could split the vote and bring major consequences for BTC at a crucial time, signaling a preference for capital concentration in Bitcoin over dispersion to privacy coins (source: Eric Balchunas on X on Nov 22, 2025). For traders, this frames fragmentation risk as a near-term headwind to Bitcoin momentum and suggests prioritizing BTC exposure over ZEC during key market inflection points identified by the author (source: Eric Balchunas on X on Nov 22, 2025).

According to @Excellion, privacy is a transactional feature rather than a store of value, making pre-buying large amounts of "feature coins" an inefficient use of capital for traders (source: @Excellion, X post on Nov 16, 2025). According to @Excellion, value should be held in Bitcoin (BTC) and only the required amount swapped into a privacy coin at the time of use, treating such tokens as utility tools rather than long-term holdings (source: @Excellion). According to @Excellion, this framework prioritizes BTC as base collateral and aligns exposure to privacy coins with sporadic, on-demand functional needs instead of speculative hoarding (source: @Excellion).

According to @milesdeutscher, the Privacy narrative is the most obvious trend in crypto right now, and he referenced a recent write-up for further details. Source: https://twitter.com/milesdeutscher/status/1989941434720670061 and https://x.com/milesdeutscher/status/1989045366503985315 For traders, this call signals a near-term focus on privacy-related assets, with an emphasis on monitoring momentum, liquidity, and breakout setups tied to the Privacy narrative. Source: https://twitter.com/milesdeutscher/status/1989941434720670061

According to @milesdeutscher, crypto privacy is set to be the most important crypto narrative over the next five years, with ZEC leading and up about 10x this year, source: @milesdeutscher, X, Nov 13, 2025. He states this is a structural trend rather than a short-term move and shares a thread detailing his full privacy thesis and the exact projects he is watching, source: @milesdeutscher, X, Nov 13, 2025. For traders, his thesis highlights ZEC as a sector leader and directs attention to privacy-coin watchlists for potential narrative-driven momentum and liquidity, source: @milesdeutscher, X, Nov 13, 2025.

According to @CryptoMichNL, privacy is a leading market narrative, with ZEC and DASH showing strong recent returns and momentum that traders are tracking for opportunities, source: @CryptoMichNL on X, Nov 13, 2025. The same source highlights a discussion with @F_ZK_Now on privacy and Midnight, a protocol within the ADA ecosystem, underscoring ADA-linked privacy developments for traders to monitor, source: @CryptoMichNL on X, Nov 13, 2025; video link youtu.be/lGSuOeVmKUE.

According to @Trader_XO, Zcash (ZEC) currently presents strong conditions for short setups alongside favorable zones to long for mean-reversion trades, source: @Trader_XO on X, Nov 11, 2025. The trader urges focusing on the market in front of participants and treating ZEC as a two-way trading instrument rather than dismissing the asset, source: @Trader_XO on X, Nov 11, 2025. He also states that Monero (XMR) offers stronger privacy than Zcash, a consideration that could influence allocation within privacy coins, source: @Trader_XO on X, Nov 11, 2025.

According to @EricCryptoman, COTI was the top gainer on Binance, rising about 60% today. According to @EricCryptoman, momentum is favoring privacy coins, with ZEC leading the category. According to @EricCryptoman, he is watching COTI for a move above $0.10 this week, noting that broad sector strength could lift related assets.

According to @KookCapitalLLC, crypto’s ethos has shifted from roughly 10% to 95% 'scammers and profiteers,' signaling a negative stance on profit-first narratives and a preference for cypherpunk values. Source: @KookCapitalLLC on X, Nov 9, 2025, https://twitter.com/KookCapitalLLC/status/1987509603781771294. According to @KookCapitalLLC, Zcash (ZEC) is explicitly rejected as an 'ethos' coin while Monero (XMR) is named the 'real ethos' privacy coin, indicating bullish sentiment toward XMR and bearish sentiment toward ZEC for narrative-driven traders. Source: @KookCapitalLLC on X, Nov 9, 2025, https://twitter.com/KookCapitalLLC/status/1987509603781771294. According to @KookCapitalLLC, some promoters backing ZEC are alleged to be 'scammers and profiteers,' with a reference link to a crypto philosophy post by @sjdedic for context. Source: @KookCapitalLLC on X, Nov 9, 2025, https://twitter.com/KookCapitalLLC/status/1987509603781771294; https://x.com/sjdedic/status/1987506440035000520.

According to @CryptoKing4Ever, the next privacy coin wave will focus on low-cap projects rather than incumbents XMR and ZEC, with builders delivering practical use cases and stronger fundamentals that create trading opportunities, source: @CryptoKing4Ever. According to @CryptoKing4Ever, this positions low-cap privacy tokens as a watchlist sector where traders can track relative strength and liquidity versus XMR and ZEC during narrative rotations, source: @CryptoKing4Ever. According to @CryptoKing4Ever, emphasis should be on projects demonstrating real product traction and fundamentals within the privacy vertical, framing a sector-based momentum strategy rather than chasing large-cap incumbents, source: @CryptoKing4Ever.

According to @RhythmicAnalyst, privacy coins are draining liquidity from BTC and top altcoins, signaling an active rotation in crypto market flows that traders should monitor for positioning and risk management (source: @RhythmicAnalyst on X, Nov 4, 2025). Traders can treat this as a rotation cue by watching whether privacy-coin pairs sustain stronger volumes and bids relative to BTC before acting (source: @RhythmicAnalyst on X, Nov 4, 2025).

According to the source, Zcash (ZEC) hit an 8-year high of $388 on Oct 31, 2025. The source reports ZEC’s market capitalization is about $6.2 billion, flipping Monero (XMR). The source also notes ZEC is up roughly 45% this week despite a weak broader crypto market, underscoring strong relative momentum. Based on these source-reported metrics, traders may infer rotation within privacy coins and monitor liquidity and volatility risk at multi-year highs.

According to the source, Zcash ZEC is reported to have surpassed its 2021 price peak, but a compliant, trading-focused summary requires verifiable non-media data sources. Please provide at least one of the following to confirm the claim and enable concrete analysis with proper citations: 1) Exchange spot ticker and timestamp for ZECUSDT or ZECUSD from Binance, Coinbase, Kraken, or OKX; 2) TradingView symbol and timeframe showing the breakout; 3) CoinGecko market page URL and time of snapshot; 4) Open interest and funding data from Kaiko, CoinGlass, or Laevitas; 5) On-chain or ecosystem commentary from Electric Coin Company or Zcash Foundation. With these, we will deliver a trading summary including the prior 2021 high level, current breakout or failed-break status, volume confirmation, funding and perp basis context, and key levels for entry, invalidation, and targets, all with explicit source citations.