‍#Gate广场四月发帖挑战

The king of privacy coins returns? - Will Monero, Zcash, or Dash lead the market?‌‌‌‌‌‌

Recently, ZEC and Dash have surged strongly, both increasing over 50% in a week, drawing all the market’s attention. Additionally, privacy coin teams have been active lately. Monero is expected to launch its mainnet within 1–2 months, with the chain client already passing simulated tests and entering the code review and testnet phases; meanwhile, Bittensor is developing in parallel, planning to launch simultaneously with XMR, and Zcash aims to connect by the end of April. The core challenge of this integration is the observability issue of privacy chains, which the team plans to address by introducing Frost-based multi-party signature mechanisms and dedicated validation node structures. So, are privacy coins making a comeback? Among the three major privacy coins XMR, ZEC, and Dash, who will lead this round of market movement? Let’s hear what Xiao Caishen has to say.

Monero (XMR): The leader in default privacy, with the largest market cap

Monero maintains its leading position among privacy coins thanks to its core design of “default privacy and enforced anonymity.” It employs ring signatures, stealth addresses, and confidential transactions to automatically hide all transaction senders, receivers, and amounts, cutting off on-chain traceability.

As of April 10, XMR’s price is $331, down 1.99% in 24 hours. According to ET Now data, its market cap is approximately $6.09 billion, with a circulating supply of about 18.45 million coins, and a 24-hour trading volume of around $57.25 million. The price peaked at about $799 earlier this year, then retraced to around $490. In this market cycle, XMR’s price has hardly moved, remaining flat on the daily chart.

Zcash (ZEC): Accelerating institutional transformation and reshaping governance

Zcash features optional anonymity, allowing users to choose between transparent transactions or shielded transactions via zk-SNARKs zero-knowledge proofs. In March 2026, Foundry Digital launched an institutional-grade mining pool for it. Meanwhile, the original core development team established the Zcash Open Development Lab, receiving a seed round of $25 million from investors including a16z Crypto and Coinbase Ventures, focusing on Zodl wallet development and ecosystem expansion. Currently, over 30% of ZEC supply is held in shielded pools, with demand for shielded transactions continuing to rise.

As of April 10, 2026, ZEC’s price is $390, having risen from $248 to a high of $395 within five days, with a gain of over 50% in that period and significantly increased trading volume. According to ET Now data, its market cap is about $5.91 billion, with a circulating supply of approximately 18.45 million coins, and a 24-hour trading volume of around $57.25 million. Analysts believe 2026 will be a pivotal year for Zcash to transition from a “niche tool” to a “core infrastructure.”

Dash (DASH): Privacy payment network in technological upgrade

In February 2026, Dash announced the integration of Zcash’s Orchard shielded pool into its Evolution chain. Additionally, initial support for standard transfers with shielded transactions will be expanded in future upgrades to cover on-chain tokenized assets. In our view, Orchard is an open-source and mature technology, with integration difficulty lower than expected. Combined with Dash’s years of self-developed technology, it will provide users with a better privacy experience.

As of April 10, DASH’s price is $45.71, with a market cap of about $560 million, a circulating supply of 12.65 million coins, and a 35% increase on April 8 alone. During the same period, $41.46 million in derivatives funds flowed in, indicating active institutional and speculative positions, demonstrating strong performance in the privacy coin rotation market.

Summary: From a technical and ecological perspective, Monero has a clear advantage in market cap and user recognition, making it the largest. However, similar to Bitcoin’s role in cryptocurrencies, its large market cap results in smaller price fluctuations and limited arbitrage opportunities. Zcash, with institutional capital injection, technological upgrades (NU7 and Zebra node migration), and a compliance-friendly optional anonymity mode, is most likely to find development space under regulatory environments. Dash, with a relatively smaller market cap and rapid ongoing upgrades, is a project with strong short-term explosive potential. Overall, ZEC is a relatively good choice both in fundamentals (technology and compliance) and price explosion potential.

What are your thoughts? Will ZEC lead another wave of privacy coin “rises”? Any ideas? Leave your comments!