Privacy coins have posted the highest returns in the cryptocurrency market over the past year, data showed.

CoinPost, a blockchain media outlet, reported on Monday that on-chain analytics firm Glassnode found the recent market rebound spread broadly over the past month, but the privacy sector outperformed all other sectors on a yearly basis.

Glassnode noted that bitcoin remained 36 percent below its October 2025 peak. The median of the top 200 coins by market value was 58 percent lower on the same basis. By contrast, privacy-related tokens rose about 213 percent across the sector. Glassnode said all sectors excluding privacy, including DeFi, exchange-related tokens, layer 1, AI, real-world assets, memecoins, layer 2, DePIN and gaming, have yet to regain their October peaks.

Privacy coins were also the strongest over the past 30 days. While the broader crypto sectors rose across the board, privacy-related tokens gained 90 percent to lead the market rebound. The value of privacy coins included in the top 200 by market value rose to $33.6 billion from $7.1 billion a year earlier. About half of that increase was built over the past 30 days.

Zcash (ZEC) was at the center of the rally. Zcash surged 2,496 percent over the past year, outpacing other tokens in the sector, and now accounts for 62 percent of the privacy sector's market value. Based on CoinGecko tallies, Zcash at one point recently rose as high as ninth in market value rankings, including stablecoins.

Glassnode said the privacy sector's strength was not limited to Zcash alone. All 8 privacy coins with more than 1 year of operating history rose over the past year. Glassnode said that even excluding Zcash, the market value-weighted average year-to-date return of a basket of privacy coins was 85 percent.

The gap was more pronounced compared with the overall market. Among the top 200 coins, 91.5 percent rose over the past 30 days, but only 25 posted gains year-to-date. The median fell 55 percent. That means recovery on a yearly basis was limited even though the short-term rebound spread across the market.

Privacy coins also stood out among large-cap tokens. Glassnode said only 4 of the top 25 coins by market value were above their Oct. 6 prices: Zcash, Monero (XMR), Hyperliquid (HYPE) and WhiteBIT Coin (WBT). Of those, 2 are privacy-related tokens: Zcash and Monero.

A comparison with other sectors also highlighted weakness in DeFi. Glassnode said Hyperliquid's rise reflected token-specific factors. Excluding Hyperliquid, DeFi-related tokens were down 46 percent year-to-date.

The trend shows that even if the recent rebound spread across all tokens, actual fund concentration was clustered in a limited set of sectors. Privacy coins stood out in 30-day gains, 1-year cumulative returns and the pace of market value growth. Zcash and Monero were tallied as showing an exceptional recovery trend within the large-cap group.