Privacy Coins Lost 44.3% of Market Share to Privacy Blockchains

Privacy-focused coins have witnessed a significant decline in their market shares after facing stiff competition from privacy blockchains, as per a report from CoinGecko.

Privacy coins have lost 44.3% of their market share to privacy blockchains since 2021, according to CoinGecko. The top two privacy blockchains include Mina Protocol, with a 23.2% market share, and Oasis Network, with a 13.6% market share.

CoinGecko noted that in January 2021, privacy coins had a 96.6% share of the crypto privacy market, amounting to a $4.62 billion market capitalization. However, as of February 2024, they held 52.3% of the privacy sector.

In contrast, privacy-focused blockchains have reportedly seen their market shares skyrocket by 14 times, from 3.4% ($0.16 billion) to 47.7% ($2.81 billion). Meanwhile, privacy coins Monero (XMR) and Zcash (ZEC) witnessed their market share decline from 54.8% to 40.9% and 19.1% to 5.8%, respectively.

Furthermore, CoinGecko claimed that since the privacy coins rose in popularity during the early days, they have witnessed delistings from many exchanges. The delisting was “fueled by regulatory security over illegal or illicit activities,” according to the report.

In detail, some privacy coins were delisted from Upbit in 2019, Bittrex and Coincheck in 2021, HTX in 2022, along with OKX and Binance’s Europe operations in 2023, noted the CoinGecko report. Interestingly, XMR also witnessed a 5.3% month-on-month decline in market share in February 2024 after Binance announced delisting from its wider exchange.

Notably, the report believes that these delistings have impacted the market dominance of privacy coins in the longer term rather than on a shorter basis. As a result, privacy blockchains have gained the attention of investors, with Network (ROSE) witnessing its market share surge to $0.80 billion from $77.62 million in January 2021.