One older crypto is racing back towards its all-time high.
Every cycle, you get a group of long-standing altcoin enthusiasts banking on a massive comeback.
The so-called “dino-coins”, many of which date back to 2017 when crypto experienced its first, most widely publicised pump.
People were generating ridiculous 100x, 200x or even 500x fortunes from various cryptos, legit or otherwise.
With altcoins tanking on October 10, it was the final nail in the coffin for many investors/traders looking to relive the glory days of crypto, when life-changing gains were made in a matter of months.
As the market has matured and institutional investors have significantly replaced the retail crowd, most dino coins barely move (even during a bull cycle) or revert to their all-time low.
Examples? Polkadot (DOT), Cosmos Hub (ATOM), IOTA, NEO (once dubbed the “Chinese Ethereum”), Dash (DASH) (more on this one shortly), Nano (XNO) and many others are down by at least 95% from their respective all-time highs.
Yet, there’s one that has made an astonishing comeback, and that is Zcash (ZEC).
Its price plummeted from $3,190 to about $30 within two months of its launch in 2016, mostly due to a combination of its massive estimated value at launch, a very low initial circulating supply, and a high inflation rate in its early days.
While the $3,190 is still recognised as ZEC’s all-time high, it pumped from a 2017-18 cycle low of $30 in February 2017 to $880 in January 2018.
Fast forward to August this year, ZEC has risen from $35 to $426, with most of the growth occurring since late September.
ZEC/USD and ZEC/BTC historical prices since 2017. Source: CoinGecko. Snapshot taken on 1 Nov 2025.
This recent surge raises the question: Why has ZEC performed well while other altcoins have struggled over the past month?
Last month, developers released Tachyon, a thorough redesign of Zcash’s core structure that aims to boost both scalability and privacy without making any trade-offs.
Tachyon, once fully implemented, will make Zcash faster and lighter by allowing wallets to sync safely without displaying old transactions, enabling nodes to delete outdated data. It uses new (zero-knowledge) proof technology to reduce validation time by approximately 40% and is compatible with future upgrades.
In September, Zashi’s CrossPay also introduced private, cross-chain ZEC payments, including Ethereum, Solana, and Bitcoin, using NEAR’s intent system.
Between 2017 and 2019, it was frequently published in crypto media as a “privacy coin”, alongside DASH and Monero (XMR).
These were still common on most exchanges, including the larger ones, despite the prolonged bear market that lasted from February 2018 to about July 2020.
However, as many crypto exchanges, including larger ones such as Binance, Coinbase and Kraken, were required to implement stricter Know Your Customer and Anti-Money Laundering (KYC/AML) checks, privacy coins were significantly restricted or removed, particularly XMR.
Despite ZEC’s impressive gains as of late and an uptick in DASH’s price, it’s a stretch to assume that privacy coins will be making a strong comeback.
Search results for ‘privacy coin’ remain well below the 2017 and 2021 peaks, based on Google Trends data dating back to 2016.
Many will dismiss these coins as just being used for money laundering and other illicit activities. However, I believe we should have a privacy-focused digital alternative to cash that is widely accepted. The CrossPay setup and the related roadmap are a promising start.
Additional thoughts
One major announcement can reignite interest in a specific cryptocurrency or group of them.
When ChatGPT became publicly available, AI-themed cryptos such as SingularityNET (AGIX), Ocean Protocol (OCEAN), and Fetch.ai (FET) all experienced a price surge for a few months.
Last year, AI agents, RWA and DePIN-themed digital assets became the talk of the town.
Remember the Metaverse and NFT mania in 2021?
This space loses its mind when certain narratives (or the latest memecoins) begin trending, with many thinking that their beloved crypto will do a 200x so they can flex online and stroke their fragile egos.
In all seriousness, there are still many good projects that deserve to succeed in future. While I believe Bitcoin and Ethereum will remain prominent chains for many years to come, it’s naïve to think that these two (or even one of them) will be the be-all and end-all of crypto and blockchain technology.
With last month’s abrupt crash, I doubt many would view altcoins with the same fervour as before, at least not in the short term.
On the other hand, these crashes have created opportunities to purchase some altcoins at lower prices.
Which ones will make it? I would focus on blue-chip crypto assets such as ETH, BNB, LINK, SOL, AAVE, HBAR and possibly XRP.
I dabble in a handful of low-cap cryptocurrencies, but these collectively make up less than 5% of my crypto portfolio.
It took the latter 7.5 years to return to its all-time high, set in January 2018, largely due to the prolonged SEC vs. Ripple Labs lawsuit. Still, it was a test of perseverance and unwavering support for the legacy crypto.
Even BTC crashed to around $5,000 amid the COVID-19 panic in early 2020, only to rise to $69,000 less than two years later.
Many see through the market manipulation and always remember the long-term prospects of this space. It also gets easier over time once you’ve handled several bull and bear cycles.
Which altcoins do you firmly believe in? Comment below.
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You might also be interested in these stories:
https://medium.com/@cryptowithlorenzo/bitcoin-is-going-to-zero-5562122f5481
https://cryptowithlorenzo.medium.com/five-crypto-sectors-with-the-most-potential-in-2025-f1fe085564c8
Disclaimers
• N.B. None of this is financial advice; I am not a financial advisor. You are ultimately responsible for your investments.
- My opinions in this piece may not reflect those of any news outlet, person, organisation, or other entity listed here.
- Please do your due diligence before investing in any crypto assets, staking, NFTs, or other products associated with this space.
- Information is correct at the time of writing.
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