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Zcash, Monero, and Hyperliquid just muscled their way into the top ten largest cryptocurrencies — excluding stablecoins — and the names they pushed out aren’t small ones. Cardano and Chainlink, both longtime fixtures in any serious crypto ranking, have slipped out of that tier entirely.
Why It Matters
The rise of Zcash and Monero into the top ten cryptocurrencies underscores a growing demand for privacy-focused digital assets amid increasing regulatory scrutiny on transparency in blockchain transactions. This shift could signal a pivotal change in market dynamics, potentially influencing investor behavior and priorities as they navigate an evolving landscape where privacy features are gaining prominence. Additionally, the exit of established players like Cardano and Chainlink from the top tier highlights the volatility and competitive nature of the crypto market, suggesting that investor sentiment may be shifting towards projects that emphasize privacy and security.
It’s a meaningful shake-up. Over the five months ending in late September, Zcash and Monero together picked up a combined $24.5 billion in market valuation. Right now, Zcash sits at $20.8 billion in market cap. Hyperliquid follows at $19 billion, and Monero clocks in at $10.1 billion. Cardano, by contrast, has dropped to a $9.3 billion valuation, with Chainlink at $9.9 billion — ranking fifteenth and seventeenth, respectively, once stablecoins are folded back into the count. A year ago, those two names were basically untouchable at that level. Not anymore.
Zcash Above $1,600, Then a Hard Drop
The price moves driving all this are pretty wild. Zcash surged 418% over the past year. Hyperliquid climbed 131%. Monero rose 79%. Meanwhile, Cardano lost 61% and Chainlink fell 25%. Those aren’t minor dips — that’s serious erosion of market position over twelve months.
Zcash crossed the $1,000 mark in September, which was already a big deal, and then kept going — hitting $1,653 before pulling back roughly 25%. So it gave up a chunk of those gains, but it’s still far ahead of where it started the year. And the speculation around it hasn’t cooled off much. Open positions on Zcash’s perpetual contracts hit $3.58 billion on October 11, which works out to about 17% of its total market cap. That’s a heavy derivatives load relative to the asset’s size — and it probably means the price can move fast in either direction.
Bitcoin, Ether, BNB, Solana, and XRP have all posted losses over the past twelve months. That’s a big part of why the rankings look so different now. When the biggest names bleed, the space opens up for whoever’s been running hot. Bitcoin’s loss over the past year comes in at 25%. Ether is down 33%. Those declines haven’t exactly been quiet, and they’ve given smaller assets the room to climb in relative standing.
Regulatory Risk Follows Privacy Coins Up the Rankings
Zcash’s rise isn’t without baggage. Hackers used it following the Bitget hack — and that kind of association tends to draw attention from regulators. It’s unclear how much scrutiny that will actually produce, but the pattern is familiar: privacy coins attract users who want transaction anonymity, and that same feature makes compliance teams and government agencies nervous. Monero has lived with that tension for years. Zcash is now big enough that it probably can’t avoid it.
Monero, for its part, has kept climbing on the back of its privacy features. It’s not posting the same eye-popping percentage gains as Zcash, but 79% in a year is nothing to dismiss. It’s now ahead of both Cardano and Chainlink in market cap, and the gap — while not massive — is real.
Hyperliquid’s story is a bit different. It’s a decentralized perpetual contracts platform, and that specialization seems to be exactly what’s resonating right now. Its market cap has grown to nearly $19 billion, and its 131% gain over the past year puts it comfortably inside the top ten. Investors looking for platforms that actually do something new with derivatives have clearly found it interesting. Whether that interest holds is another question.
NEAR also deserves a mention here. It’s entered the top 20 with a market valuation of $7.2 billion, which means the churn isn’t limited to just the top ten. The broader rankings are shifting, and several newer names are gaining ground against assets that have been around much longer.
The Rankings Could Flip Again Fast
The gap between Monero, Cardano, and Chainlink is less than a billion dollars. That’s basically nothing in a market that can swing several percent in an afternoon. Any decent rally in ADA or LINK could push them back up. Any stumble from Monero and the picture changes again. The current standings are real, but they’re not permanent — probably not even stable.
And the broader market isn’t exactly calm. Volatility is still the baseline condition. The same environment that let Zcash run 418% can reverse quickly, especially with open interest at 17% of market cap and speculative positioning that heavy. It doesn’t take much.
Cardano and Chainlink aren’t gone. They’re just sitting at $9.3 billion and $9.9 billion right now, separated from Monero by margins that could close in days. The door isn’t shut — it’s just not open the way it was.
Open interest on Zcash perpetual contracts stood at $3.58 billion as of October 11.
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Frequently Asked Questions
What is Zcash’s current market cap and how much did it gain in the past year?
Zcash has a market capitalization of $20.8 billion and surged 418% over the past twelve months, hitting a high of $1,653 before a 25% correction.
Why did Cardano and Chainlink fall out of the crypto top ten?
Cardano lost 61% and Chainlink fell 25% over the past year, dropping their valuations to $9.3 billion and $9.9 billion respectively, while Zcash, Monero, and Hyperliquid posted strong gains and overtook them in market cap rankings.
