Privacy is once again taking center stage in the crypto market. Monero (XMR) has returned above the $500 mark after more than three years, while rival Zcash (ZEC) faces a serious internal crisis. The contrast between the two projects has become one of the most watched stories in the privacy coin segment in recent days.
XMR rises to historic highs
Monero climbed above $510 over the weekend, surpassing the psychological $500 mark for the first time since May 2021. Daily growth exceeded 8%, and over the past week, the price has strengthened by more than 20%. XMR thus approached its historic high of around $517.5, which reopened the question of whether the project will be able to enter a phase of price discovery or whether the previous scenario of rejection of higher levels will repeat itself.
Monero’s growth was in sharp contrast to the development of Zcash. In the middle of the week, the entire Electric Coin Company team behind the development of Zcash resigned en masse due to disputes over management, financing, and the future direction of the project. The market reacted immediately—the price of ZEC fell by more than 20% in a few days and stabilized around $380 over the weekend.
Monero benefits from institutional narrative, market remains cautious
A change in the institutional narrative also contributed to Monero’s strengthening. Companies such as Grayscale and Coinbase have identified privacy coins as a key theme for the next phase of the crypto market in their analyses, particularly in the context of increasing regulation and financial flow monitoring. With Zcash facing organizational uncertainty, some investors have turned to Monero as a more stable exposure to the privacy theme.
Despite the optimism, however, Monero’s technical history calls for caution. Since 2017, XMR has made several unsuccessful attempts to break through its historical highs, with each attempt ending in a significant decline. If this scenario repeats itself, the price could return to the $200–270 range, while a stable break above the $500–520 area would open up room for growth towards higher levels.
