Privacy coins are surging: ZCash, Dash and Monero

After a fantastic 2025, it looks like privacy coins will also become the major crypto stars of 2026 (although it is still early). With gains of 50 to even 70% in a single week, these cryptocurrencies are the clear winners of the first week of May.

Unlike most well-known cryptocurrencies, whose transactions are public and traceable, privacy coins hide important details such as the sender and recipient addresses, as well as the transaction amounts. So, if you are a Russian billionaire or a North Korean hacker, coins like Zcoin, Dash and Monero are very familiar to you.

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2025 was a real banner year for the most well-known privacy coins. ZCash surged by no less than 600%, and Monero also gained 100%. Dash performed considerably worse with a gain of around 12%, but since the name of that cryptocurrency is the same as the stock Doordash, that is not really surprising. After Bitcoin hit the $80k mark earlier this month, most altcoins went all out, experiencing a very good week and starting rallies.

Privacy coins, in particular, were the big stars. ZCash has already gained more than 70% in the past seven days and reached an all-time high for the year 2026 yesterday.

Monero and Dash are also making rapid strides.

I still expect a retest for Bitcoin, after which we will likely see a small pullback for altcoins, but if the major rally really picks up steam, these are probably the coins to invest in when Altseason really starts.