3 Mid-cap Privacy Coins Saw Heavy Accumulation by Whales in January.

While main privateness cash comparable to Monero (XMR), Zcash (ZEC), and Dash (DASH) have already reached multi-billion-dollar market capitalizations and posted sturdy beneficial properties, capital flows seem like shifting towards lower-cap privateness cash.

January recorded notable accumulation exercise in a number of mid- to low-cap altcoins. This could mirror whales’ positioning forward of expectations that the privateness coin narrative will proceed to draw capital in 2026.

1. Horizen (ZEN)

Horizen is a privateness layer protocol constructed on Base, Ethereum’s Layer 2 community.

Horizen aims to ship privateness whereas remaining compliant with rules. The protocol permits establishments, enterprises, and customers to conduct transactions and computations on-chain in a confidential, verifiable, and legally compliant method.

ZEN is at the moment a mid-cap altcoin with a market capitalization of over $226 million. In January, ZEN rose greater than 50%. Despite the rebound, it stays down by greater than 90% from its 2021 peak.

ZEN can be a part of Grayscale’s funding merchandise via the Grayscale Horizen Trust. CoinGlass knowledge exhibits that Grayscale has elevated its ZEN holdings since late 2024. The agency now holds greater than 948,000 ZEN, equal to over 5% of the circulating provide.

Grayscale’s continued accumulation, regardless of ZEN falling greater than 70% because the finish of 2024, alerts long-term conviction from Grayscale buyers. Previously, Grayscale’s promotion was one of many key components driving ZEC’s rally final 12 months.

Some buyers consider that following the rallies in Monero (XMR) and Dash (DASH), Horizen (ZEN) might be the subsequent candidate.

“We’ve taken an enormous place in Horizen (ZEN). This seems primed for an aggressive pump following large beneficial properties from XMR and DASH,” The Whale Pod said.

2. Railgun (RAIL)

RAILGUN is an on-chain privateness and safety system constructed straight on blockchains comparable to Ethereum, BSC, Polygon, and Arbitrum.

Railgun makes use of zero-knowledge (ZK) cryptography to permit customers to transact and work together with DeFi anonymously.

RAIL is the governance token of RAILGUN and at the moment has a market capitalization of over $165 million. Nansen knowledge exhibits that over the previous 30 days, RAIL balances on exchanges declined by greater than 5%. At the identical time, balances held by whale wallets elevated by over 24%.

A report from Messari, an on-chain analytics platform, acknowledged that in 2025, Railgun processed $2 billion in shielded and unshielded quantity. This exercise generated $5 million in income.

Railgun Quant, a researcher at Messari, famous that at costs beneath $3, RAIL could also be undervalued. The token’s value may doubtlessly double from present ranges.

“Even at $3.10, $RAIL is buying and selling at a reduction of greater than 50% to my RAILGUN valuation mannequin’s base case of $6.26,” Railgun Quant said.

3. Decred (DCR)

Decred (DCR) is a Layer 1 blockchain that makes use of a hybrid Proof-of-Work (PoW) and Proof-of-Stake (PoS) consensus mechanism. The community additionally supports privacy-preserving transactions.

DCR at the moment has a market capitalization of over $479 million. Accumulation traits are evident in the rising share of provide staked since This fall 2025.

Decred knowledge exhibits that greater than 10 million DCR at the moment are staked. This represents over 62% of the entire provide and marks the best ratio since March 2025.

Amid rising curiosity in privateness cash, Decred has entered the top 5 privateness cash by market capitalization on CoinGecko. Analysts expect the worth to maneuver past the present $27.6 degree and doubtlessly attain $60.

“DCR simply broke out of accumulation! Inverse head & shoulders confirmed. That shifts the market into markup mode!” analyst AltCryptoTalk predicted.

Experts continue to fee the privacy coin narrative highly for 2026. Large-cap privateness cash with multi-billion-dollar valuations could face stress to profit-take. Low-cap altcoins carry greater liquidity dangers. Mid-cap privateness cash could strike a stability between the 2 and maintain potential to affix the billion-dollar market cap membership.

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