Digital currencies weakened on Thursday as assets extended yesterday’s bearish performance.

The global crypto market capitalization plunged 2% the past day to $4.16 trillion.

While most tokens appear poised for further declines before rebounds, privacy-focused cryptocurrencies held strong, recording substantial gains despite broader bearishness.

CoinGecko data shows privacy tokens saw a 14.8% uptick in market value to $11.45 billion (adding roughly $1.696 billion) over the past 24 hours.

The over $1.35 billion in 24-hour trading volume reflects considerable trader activity.

The decouple has stirred markets as it indicates a potential shift, where players are prioritizing anonymity and privacy when interacting with cryptocurrencies.

One of the earliest privacy tokens, Zcash, has performed well after starting the week on a bullish note.

The digital token exhibits an optimistic structure after recording substantial gains in trading volume and price over the past day.

ZEC is trading at $187 after a 24-hour peak of $194, still up 32% on the daily timeframe.

Technical indicators suggest bull dominance.

Zcash’s price hovers well above the vital 50- and 100-Exponential Moving Averages on the 24-hour chart.

Also, the MACD demonstrates buyer presence with visible green histograms after the late September bullish crossover.

However, the daily Relative Strength Index at 76 highlights overbought situations.

That means ZEC might dip slightly as momentum cools before extending its rally.

Lesser-known privacy coin, VEIL, gained traction after a more than 40% increase the previous day.

It is hovering at $0.06905 with significant volatility

VEIL mirrors the enhanced sentiments among privacy tokens.

Other related coins that recorded impressive price performances in the past 24 hours include Railgun (+130%), LOCK (+30%), FIRO (+20%), and YEC (+55%).

The Ethereum Foundation amplified the privacy momentum with the new “Privacy Cluster” initiative.

The innovative cluster connects 47 researchers and engineers to enhance privacy features across Ethereum and related networks.

The Ethereum Foundation has established the Privacy Cluster, a group of 47 experts dedicated to researching and developing privacy and security features directly on the Ethereum layer-1 network. The group will focus on private payments, decentralized identity, zero-knowledge

The “Privacy Cluster” signals Ethereum’s ongoing efforts to ensure privacy at every level, from developer tools to user wallets.

The October 8 blog reads:

By continuing to level up the privacy features of Ethereum at every level of the stack, we can protect users on-chain and unlock new use cases for developers and institutions. The work is underway. The building blocks exist today. And the Ethereum ecosystem will continue to refine, scale, and deploy them.

Time will tell whether privacy tokens will sustain the current rally.

However, one thing remains clear: privacy is once again at the centre of blockchain and cryptocurrency conversations.

Meanwhile, the Ethereum Foundation’s coordinated privacy efforts and renewed momentum in og projects like Zcash signal a shifting landscape.

The post Altcoins today: privacy tokens add $1.7B as Zcash and VEIL soar up to 40% appeared first on Invezz

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