MarketsShareShare this articleCopy linkX (Twitter)LinkedInFacebookEmailHYPE Surpasses Dogecoin Briefly as Privacy Tokens Decline Amid US-Iran Tensions

ZEC and XMR experienced a 5% drop in a trading session where most significant tokens retreated following weeks of gains, influenced by escalating tensions in the Middle East and rising oil prices.

By Shaurya Malwa May 26, 2026, 4:57 a.m. 2 min readMake preferred on

Key Points:

  • Privacy tokens led the declines in the crypto market, with Zcash decreasing by 5.2% and Monero by 4%, although both remain among the top performers recently.
  • The decline in Zcash was seen as profit-taking following a substantial rally fueled by institutional interest and a revived focus on privacy tokens.
  • Overall, the crypto market remained largely stable as geopolitical tensions in the Middle East drove oil prices and the dollar up, while U.S. equity futures saw slight gains.

Privacy tokens accounted for the largest share of the recent pullback in crypto gains.

Zcash (ZEC) fell by 5.2% over a 24-hour period to $619, marking the most significant decline among the top 20 tokens by market capitalization, yet it still recorded an 8.2% increase over the last week, according to CoinDesk data. Monero (XMR) decreased by 4% to $378.

Both tokens have shown strong performance in recent weeks, with ZEC attracting institutional interest following Multicoin Capital's investment announcement earlier this month and the broader focus on privacy tokens.

The 5% drop is interpreted as profit-taking rather than fresh selling, as structural buyers in privacy tokens have been accumulating during the rally instead of selling off.

Hyperliquid's HYPE token briefly surpassed Dogecoin's market cap during Asian trading hours but subsequently retreated, with HYPE down 4% to $59 and DOGE at $0.1011, down 0.8% to $0.1009. Nevertheless, HYPE is still up 23.6% over the past week, spurred by last week's SpaceX pre-IPO perpetual launch on Hyperliquid.

Tron (TRX) was the only gainer in the top 10, rising by 2.6% to $0.3739, and up 4.8% over the past week. Bitcoin hovered around $76,500, ether at $2,087, and Solana at $83.97, all remaining in narrow trading ranges without significant movement.

The cautious sentiment was influenced by macroeconomic factors. US Central Command confirmed

Brent crude prices increased nearly 2% to $98 per barrel, rebounding from a 7% drop on Monday when London and New York markets were closed for holidays. The dollar strengthened against all G-10 currencies, gold fell 0.6% to $4,545, and S&P 500 futures maintained a 0.6% gain following the previous day's U.S. market closure.