Whalers are stocking up on these 3 mid-cap privacy coins.
While leading privacy coins like Monero (XMR), Zcash (ZEC) and Dash (DASH) have reached multi-billion dollar market capitalizations and posted strong gains, capital flows seem to be shifting to lower privacy coins.
January saw significant stocking activity in several mid- and low-cap altcoins. This privacy coin narrative may reflect the whales' position as it is expected to continue attracting capital in 2026.
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1. Horizon (ZEN)
Horizen is a privacy layer protocol built on Base, Ethereum's Layer 2 network.
Horizen aims to provide privacy while respecting the rules. The protocol enables institutions, enterprises, and users to conduct transactions and calculations on the chain in a confidential, authenticated, and legally compliant manner.
ZEN is currently a mid-cap altcoin with a market capitalization of over $226 million. In January, ZEN rose more than 50%. Despite the rebound, it's down more than 90% from its 2021 peak.
ZEN is part of Greyscale Investment Products through Greyscale Horizen Trust. According to CoinGlass data, Grayscale has increased its holdings of ZEN since the end of 2024.
Grayscale stock continues, even though ZEN has fallen more than 70% since the end of 2024, indicating long-term delinquency from grayscale investors. Previously, the introduction of Greyscale was one of the key factors driving ZEC's rally last year.
Some investors believe that Horizen (ZEN) could be the next candidate following the rallies in Monero (XMR) and Dash (DASH).
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“We've taken a big position in Horizon (ZEN). This looks set for an offensive pump following big gains from XMR and DASH,” The Wall Pod said.
2. Rail gun (RAIL)
RAILGUN is an on-chain privacy and security system built directly on blockchains such as Ethereum, BSC, Polygon and Arbitrum.
Railgun uses zero-knowledge (ZK) encryption to allow users to interact with DeFi anonymously.
RAIL is the management symbol of RAILGUN and currently has a market capitalization of over $165 million. According to Nansen data, in the last 30 days, RAIL's turnover has decreased by more than 5%. At the same time, the balances held by whale purses increased by more than 24 percent.
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A report from Masari, an on-chain analytics platform, says Railgun has set $2 billion in shielded and unshielded volume by 2025. This move generated $5 million in revenue.
Mesari Researcher Railgun Quant suggested that RAIL could be undervalued at a price below $3. The value of the token may double from current levels.
“Even at $3.10, $RAIL is trading at a more than 50% discount based on my RAILGUN Value Model of $6.26,” Railgun Quant said.
3. Reduced (DCR)
Decred (DCR) uses a Layer 1 block chain (PoW) and Proof-of-Stake (PoS) consensus mechanism. The network also supports privacy-preserving transactions.
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DCR currently has a market capitalization of over $479 million. It is highlighted by the increasing aggregate trends in the share of supply held from Q4 2025 onwards.
Reduced data shows that more than 10 million DCRs are now owned. This represents more than 62 percent of the total supply and represents the highest ratio since March 2025.
As interest in privacy coins continues to grow, Decred has entered the top 5 privacy coins by market capitalization on CoinGecko. Analysts expect the price to rise above the current $27.6 and reach $60.
“DCR has just broken out of a rally! Reversal head and shoulders confirmed. That will send the market into mark mode!” Analyst AltCryptoTalk predicted.
Experts continue to rate the privacy coin narrative highly for 2026. Large privacy coins with multi-billion dollar valuations may face pressure to turn a profit. Low-capitalization altcoins carry high liquidity risks. Mid-range privacy coins may strike a balance between the two and have the potential to join the billion dollar market cap club.
