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Monero Jumps on $23 Million Mystery Buy as Zcash Rally Cools

Zcash (ZEC) experienced a drop of over 6% in the last day, falling to $520.05 as investors cashed in on recent gains. In contrast, Monero (XMR) rose by 11% to $396.75 following a mysterious $23 million transaction on its network.

The split has sparked renewed discussion about which privacy-focused cryptocurrency is better.

Money is shifting away from Zcash, which relies on institutions to maintain its privacy features, and back towards Monero, which has built-in privacy as a core part of its design.

Zcash Cools After 56% Monthly Surge

Zcash (ZEC) is currently trading around $520, though it briefly reached over $640 in early May – a price not seen since 2017. Despite the recent dip, the token has still gained almost 57% in the last 30 days and over 900% in the past year.

The recent climb followed:

  • A January decision by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to close its probe into the Zcash Foundation without enforcement action,
  • A May position disclosure by Multicoin Capital, and
  • Grayscale’s filing to convert its Zcash Trust into a spot ETF.

The Grayscale spot ETF filing added an institutional layer to the rally.

Around 30% of all Zcash (ZEC) is now held in the network’s privacy-focused pools, which reduces the amount readily available for trading.

The recent price drop is bringing the token back towards its 200-day moving average, around $500. Analysts see this level as important for the next potential price increase.

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Monero Rally Tied to Unexplained $23 Million Buy

The price of XMR increased quickly after a large transaction: one wallet took $29.3 million in USDC from Coinbase, converted some of it to DAI, and then used about $23 million to buy XMR through the Wagyu over-the-counter trading platform.

An on-chain analyst, MLM, reported that someone recently moved $29.3 million in USDC from Coinbase, likely due to a hack or phishing scam. This person then converted the USDC to DAI and, over the past day, began swapping it back to USDC before exchanging that USDC for Monero (XMR) through Wagyu(.)xyz, using several different digital wallets. In a four to seventeen hour period, they bought $23 million worth of XMR, which caused the price of XMR to increase by almost 15%.

We haven’t confirmed where the money came from, and rumors that it originated from hacked accounts are still just speculation.

As a researcher, I’ve observed this pattern before. We’re seeing a situation similar to past events where significant, hidden purchases of Monero (XMR) have led to temporary price increases.

Rotation Inside the Privacy Coin Sector

XMR’s RingCT signatures and stealth addresses apply privacy to every transaction by default.

Zcash uses zk-SNARK technology, but only when users opt into shielded transactions.

Critics have used this difference to question the ZEC rally each time the sector reprices.

$Zec is a narrative, $XMR is the real deal

— CryptoCat.hl (@Cestlavierix) May 30, 2026

Privacy-focused cryptocurrencies have been a leading trend in 2026, continuing a strong performance from the previous year when these types of tokens significantly outperformed more well-known cryptocurrencies.

Monero (XMR) is currently valued at around $7.43 billion, while Zcash (ZEC) is at $8.67 billion. This places them at 16th and 18th respectively on CoinGecko’s list of cryptocurrencies.

The widening difference in features highlights a continuing debate within the privacy coin community. Some users prioritize untraceability as a fundamental requirement, and this disagreement affects the design choices between Zcash and Monero.

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2026-05-30 16:13