u.today
By the middle of the first week of May, the TOTAL2 index by TradingView, meaning the capitalization of altcoins excluding Bitcoin, stabilized above the psychological $1 trillion mark, reaching $1.051 trillion.
Against the backdrop of a broader risk-on environment and the de-escalation talks in Middle East, capital began distributing across the market in a more targeted way as $XRP, Zcash ($ZEC), and Dogecoin ($DOGE) came into focus, being three coins each representing its own growth model: from scarcity-driven hype to institutional recognition.
3 coins driving the crypto market's new risk-on phase
Zcash ($ZEC) became the leader of the week, posting gains of more than 70% and breaking above $585. Not only did Multicoin Capital, the fund known for buying Solana (SOL) at $0.04-$0.23 during 2018-2020, officially confirm the formation of a significant position in Zcash, but a fundamental supply shortage also affected the price as nearly 30% of the coin's total supply is now held in shielded addresses, marking a historical high and limiting available exchange supply for $ZEC.
If Zcash provided the market with emotional momentum, then $XRP acted as the stabilizer of the index. Institutional interest, reflected in the growth of total net assets in $XRP ETFs to $1.09 billion, is being fueled by expectations surrounding May 21, the deadline tied to the CLARITY Act bill. At the same time, ETF inflows over the past 24 hours nearly tripled to $11.5 million.
Finally, Dogecoin ($DOGE) at this stage is demonstrating a transition from speculative accumulation to expectations of real-world utility. Large holders accumulated an additional 160 million $DOGE over the past four days, adding to the $330 million observed earlier in April.
The main catalyst is preparation for the launch of the X Money payment system. The market is beginning to price in the use of $DOGE as one of the core tools for microtransactions, reshaping perception of the coin from a meme asset into a functional element of digital payments.
The stabilization of altcoins above $1 trillion is not simply another pump, but the result of synchronized strategies: the search for privacy through $ZEC, legal clarity through $XRP, and mass adoption potential through $DOGE.