Zcash (ZEC) is experiencing a surge, with its value climbing steadily over the past few weeks. This quiet giant of privacy coins is flexing its muscles, pushing its market cap to a significant $9.41 billion and hinting at a resurgence of interest in anonymous transactions.
Zcash just pulled off a crypto coup! Forget lucky number 13, it’s now sitting pretty at number 14, dethroning Stellar (XLM) in the cryptocurrency market cap rankings. XLM, boasting a hefty $8.88 billion valuation, just couldn’t keep pace with Zcash’s meteoric rise.
Zcash, created in 2016 via a fork of Bitcoin’s codebase, supports anonymous transactions with zero-knowledge proofs.

Forget fleeting hype. Zcash isn’t just mooning; it’s eclipsing rivals. Exploding a staggering 1,172% year-on-year, Zcash has dethroned Monero, seizing the privacy token crown. But this isn’t your typical crypto pump and dump. A surge in real-world adoption, particularly the utilization of its shielded features, is fueling the ascent. Is this a sign that privacy is no longer a dirty word in the world of digital currency, but the next frontier?
Zcash, until recently a fairly obscure cryptocurrency, started rising in late September, and has risen over tenfold since then.
Zcash experienced a meteoric rise, blasting from under $54 in late September to a breathtaking $748 on Friday – a peak unseen since the crypto winter of January 2018.
Bucking the bearish trend, Zcash is flashing green, soaring 5.59% to $589 in the last 24 hours. That’s a defiant 41% leap this week, while the broader crypto market bleeds.
What’s next for XLM?
Stellar’s developer community is exploding! Forget glacial industry growth – Stellar blazed past it, boasting a 37% surge in full-time developers last quarter, a scorching eight times the average. Q3 alone saw 1,450 new coding pioneers flocking to the network, a stunning 70% leap. But the real fireworks? Smart contract usage. Daily invocations nearly doubled, shattering the 1 million mark. By the quarter’s end, a staggering 157 million invocations painted a clear picture: Stellar isn’t just growing, it’s buzzing with activity.
Q3 saw the Stellar Ambassador program ignite across the globe! We welcomed 400 fresh faces, fueled 160 community gatherings, and witnessed double-digit growth explosions in Latin America and Asia Pacific. The Stellar flame is burning brighter than ever!
Developer activity is surging, fueling network momentum. But XLM’s price? It’s playing catch-up. While up 175% year-on-year, the real fireworks are still waiting to ignite. The stage is set, the players are ready – will XLM deliver the grand finale?
All eyes are now glued to XLM. Will it shatter the $0.5 ceiling? A decisive break could ignite a spectacular rally, catapulting the token into a brand new bullish orbit.
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