Privacy coins break through against the trend: market liquidation nearly $1 billion, sector surges 13% in one week

In the past week, privacy coins have become the most eye-catching presence in the cryptocurrency market. Despite nearly $1 billion in position liquidations across the entire market, the privacy coin sector has defied the trend and risen by 13%.

Amid a nearly 3% decline in Bitcoin and a 3% to 10% drop in most altcoins, privacy coins have demonstrated remarkable resilience, even continuing to rise. Experts refer to this phenomenon as “selective capital rotation,” meaning investors are not completely exiting the crypto market but reallocating assets within it.

Market Comparative Analysis: Divergence Between Privacy Coins and Mainstream Coins

Recently, a striking phenomenon has emerged in the global cryptocurrency market: while the overall market is declining, privacy coins are moving against the trend. According to Gate data, the privacy coin sector has increased by 13.1% over the past week, while Bitcoin has fallen by 2.3% in the same period.

Market divergence is particularly pronounced in mid-January: on January 12, Monero (XMR) surged 19% in a single day, with a five-day increase of 44%, while most mainstream coins performed modestly. This reflects a reassessment by market participants regarding asset security and privacy. Recent global geopolitical tensions and trade frictions have prompted some investors to seek asset classes that can decouple from macroeconomic pressures.

Driving Factors for the Rise: From Regulatory Pressure to Asset Security Needs

The upward trend of privacy coins against the market is driven by multiple factors. Changes in the global regulatory environment are a primary catalyst. As KYC (Know Your Customer) and AML (Anti-Money Laundering) rules tighten worldwide, more users are seeking financial privacy protections at the protocol level.

Large-scale freezing events of stablecoins have also accelerated this trend. For example, Tether has frozen over 7,000 wallets, totaling approximately 3.3 billion USDT, from 2023 to early 2026. This has raised questions about centralized asset control, prompting investors to look for alternatives, making privacy coins a tool to hedge against regulatory risks.

Renowned Silicon Valley investor Naval Ravikant describes privacy coins as “insurance against Bitcoin,” a view widely circulated in the crypto community. His “multi-layer protection system” theory suggests that if Bitcoin is the first layer of insurance against fiat currency risk, then privacy coins provide a second layer of protection against blockchain transparency risks.

Performance of Major Privacy Tokens: Monero, Dash, and DUSK Lead the Rise

Recently, several major tokens in the privacy coin market have performed well, each with unique technology and market positioning.

Monero(XMR), as a leader among privacy coins, saw its price soar from about $410 in early January to nearly $799. This is mainly due to its default privacy features and mature ecosystem, but also subjects it to stricter regulatory scrutiny.

Dash(DASH) uses an innovative PrivateSend feature, providing optional privacy transactions via CoinJoin technology. As of January 20, 2026, Dash’s price is $74.71, with a slight decline in the past 24 hours, but its weekly increase still reaches an impressive 81.02%.

DUSK Network focuses on enterprise-level privacy solutions, employing zero-knowledge proof technology to protect transaction privacy. Over the past week, DUSK has surged over 354%, making it one of the standout tokens in the privacy sector.

Table: Recent Performance Comparison of Major Privacy Coins

Price Analysis Based on Gate Market Data

According to the latest Gate data, as of January 20, 2026, the privacy coin sector exhibits complex market dynamics.

Dash currently has a market cap of $931.24M, with a market share of 0.028%. Its 24-hour trading volume is $7.64M. Despite a 6.90% decline in price over the past 24 hours, it has achieved an 81.02% increase over the past 7 days. Technical indicators show Dash’s highest price in the last 24 hours at $88.5 and the lowest at $73.73, with the current price near the lower end of the 24-hour trading range.

DUSK Network’s price performance is even more notable. Although it declined slightly by 0.58% in the past 24 hours, it has surged 170.47% over the past 7 days, with a 396.66% increase over the past 30 days. Currently, DUSK has a circulating supply of 500 million tokens, a market cap of $99.31M, and a 24-hour trading volume of $7.23M.

Regulatory Challenges and Future Outlook

Despite the recent strong performance, regulatory pressure remains a sword of Damocles hanging over the sector. The Dubai International Financial Centre recently announced a ban on privacy coin trading due to AML and sanctions risks. Different regulatory bodies have varying attitudes toward privacy coins: some countries have outright banned privacy coin trading, while others are attempting to strike a balance between privacy protection and compliance. This regulatory uncertainty could continue to impact privacy coin market performance and mainstream adoption.

In the long term, the development of privacy coins may follow two main directions: on one hand, projects like Monero that insist on complete privacy; on the other, privacy coins offering “selective transparency,” such as Zcash. Mainstream blockchains are also gradually integrating privacy features, with Ethereum and Solana adding optional privacy layers, which could promote broader adoption of privacy technologies across the industry.

Market analyst Ray Youssef predicts that if privacy coins maintain their strength, “we might see XMR reach $650, Dash reach $90, and DUSK reach $0.28.” As of January 20, Dash is priced at $74.71, and DUSK’s latest price is $0.203. These prices are approximately 20% and 38% below the short-term target predicted by market insiders. The cloud of market liquidations has not yet dispersed, but the counter-trend rise of privacy coins has already provided new perspectives for the market. When the traditional stablecoin “safe haven” attribute is questioned, the value of censorship-resistant assets is being reassessed.