Monero, a whale's single purchase...Zcash rally cools, 15% 'jump'

▲ Monero (XMR)

Monero (XMR) surged on the back of an unidentified $23 million on-chain purchase, while Zcash (ZEC) fell under profit-taking pressure, causing a shift in fund flows within the privacy coin market.

According to cryptocurrency media outlet BeInCrypto on May 30 (local time), Zcash dropped more than 6% over the past 24 hours, falling to $520.05. During the same period, Monero rose 11% to $396.75 after an unconfirmed $23 million on-chain purchase.

BeInCrypto reported that Zcash nearly doubled last month, fueling ETF expectations, but recently faced profit-taking. Zcash surpassed $640 in early May, recovering price levels not seen since 2017, and has risen nearly 57% over the last 30 days and over 900% year-on-year.

The Zcash rally was driven by the US Securities and Exchange Commission's decision to close its investigation into the Zcash Foundation in January without enforcement action, Multicoin Capital's disclosure of its May position, and Grayscale's application to convert its Zcash spot ETF. However, with the recent decline, Zcash has entered a phase of retesting the $500 mark, where its 200-day moving average is located.

Monero's surge coincided with a large fund movement from a single wallet. On-chain analyst MLM stated that one wallet withdrew 29.3 million USDC from Coinbase, converted some to DAI, and then purchased approximately $23 million worth of XMR through multiple wallets via the Wagyu OTC route. MLM explained that this purchase pushed the price up by almost 15%, but BeInCrypto noted that speculations about the funds originating from hacking or phishing victims were unconfirmed.

Within the privacy coin space, there has also been a shift of funds from Zcash's institutional narrative to Monero's fundamental privacy structure. Monero applies default privacy to all transactions through RingCT signatures and stealth addresses, while Zcash uses zk-SNARK technology but requires users to opt for shielded transactions. Monero's market capitalization was approximately $7.43 billion, and Zcash's was approximately $8.67 billion, with the two assets ranking 18th and 16th, respectively, on CoinGecko.

*Disclaimer: This article is for investment reference only and we are not responsible for any investment losses based on it. The content should be interpreted for informational purposes only.*