While Bitcoin, Ethereum, Solana, and XRP dropped anywhere from 30 to 50 percent, only Zcash, Hyperliquid, Monero, NEAR, and Uniswap posted gains over the past year.
Zcash’s 800% surge dramatically skews the group, with the other four winners gaining just 9% to 90%.
Beyond outperforming major coins, the five winners share little in common, making a definitive trend difficult to identify.
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Among the largest cryptocurrencies by market value, Zcash (CRYPTO:ZEC), Hyperliquid (CRYPTO:HYPE), Monero (CRYPTO:XMR), NEAR Protocol (CRYPTO:NEAR), and Uniswap (CRYPTO:UNI) are the only coins rising over the past year. In contrast, many popular coins have lost a significant portion of their value.
Bitcoin (CRYPTO:BTC), as of October 6, 2026, is trading at $85,896, reflecting a decline of about 30% since last year. This drop largely stems from its record high of $126,080 on October 6, 2025. Similarly, Ethereum (CRYPTO:ETH) has fallen 40% to $2,704, Solana (CRYPTO:SOL) has dropped 48% to $119, and XRP (CRYPTO:XRP) is down 50%, currently trading at $1.50.
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Zcash Leads the Coins Rising Over the Past Year
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Zcash stands out in this group, posting an impressive gain of over 800% to reach $1,344. However, it’s still about 58% below its all-time high, meaning early investors are still feeling the pinch.
Monero, another privacy-focused cryptocurrency, has risen around 66% and is now trading at $558. Hyperliquid, which facilitates futures trading, has appreciated roughly 90% to $93 and is only 5% shy of its peak just under $98.
NEAR Protocol and Uniswap also made the list but with more modest gains. NEAR, which supports applications on its network, saw its token rise 63% to $5, yet it’s still 74% below its 2022 high. Meanwhile, Uniswap, the token of one of the largest decentralized exchanges, gained just 9% to $9, but it remains about 80% below its record high.
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The Five Coins Up This Year Do Very Different Jobs
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Each of the five coins fulfills a specific function, such as enabling private transactions, facilitating futures trading, hosting applications, or swapping tokens. In contrast, major cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, Ethereum, Solana, and XRP tend to follow broader crypto market trends, leading to speculation that capital has shifted from these larger coins to more specialized ones.
However, NEAR challenges this idea. As a competitor to Ethereum and Solana, which have lost 40% and 48%, respectively, NEAR’s growth suggests factors beyond doing a narrower job are at play.
The privacy coins—Zcash and Monero—appear to share a common theme. While Zcash has outpaced Monero this year, this small sample size makes it hard to establish a solid trend.
Zcash’s 800% Gain Hides How Modest the Other Four Are
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Zcash’s outstanding 800% rise overshadows the other four coins, which recorded gains ranging from 9% to 90%. Without Zcash’s remarkable performance, the rest of the group shows decent growth but does not indicate a dramatic trend.
Moreover, despite these coins’ good fortune this year, all five still trade below their previous all-time highs. Zcash, NEAR, and Uniswap would each need to more than double their current prices to regain those peaks.
What Do the Coins Rising Over the Past Year Have in Common?
Overall, these five cryptocurrencies share little beyond outperforming Bitcoin, Ethereum, Solana, and XRP over the past year. Zcash stands out as an extreme case, while the others share little more than a good run over the same 12 months.
Past performance doesn’t always predict future success. The ongoing performance of the privacy coins will be key: if Zcash and Monero continue to thrive in the coming year while major coins recover, privacy features could gain lasting traction. But if they fall back with Bitcoin and XRP, it could simply show these five coins had a good year without signaling a definitive trend.
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