The post Privacy Coins Surge 80%, Crypto Investors Seek Privacy, Encrypted Bitcoin appeared com. Investor demand for financial privacy is fueling a rally in privacy-preserving cryptocurrencies, signaling renewed interest in self-sovereign blockchain transactions. The market capitalization of privacy-preserving cryptocurrencies rose by about 80% over the past week to briefly surpass $24 billion earlier on Monday before retracing 2. 9% to $23. 7 billion at the time of writing, according to data aggregator CoinGecko. Dash (DASH) and Zcash (ZEC) were among the best-performing privacy coins last week, with 65% and 9. 55% gains, respectively. The privacy coin rally occurred despite a wider crypto market downturn, which saw the total crypto market cap decline by 3. 7% over the past week, from $3. 96 trillion to $3. 81 trillion, signaling increasing investor demand for financial privacy. Top privacy coins by performance, one-week chart ideological demand for private, self-sovereign transactions.” Kennis said the expansion of Zcash’s shielded pool and improvements in its technology, including the Zashi wallet for shielded transfers and Solana integration, are making privacy transactions more accessible. Zcash’s fixed supply of 21 million coins, its proof-of-work (PoW) consensus model and its privacy setting based on zk-SNARK technology position it as an “encrypted Bitcoin” for investors seeking private transactions, added Kennis. Zk-SNARKs are cryptographic primitives that can sever any tractable piece of data between two parties over a public blockchain network, aiming to strengthen digital privacy. They are an interaction of zero-knowledge proof technology. Related: Saylor’s Strategy tipped for S&P 500 inclusion after Q3 earnings: 10X.