Bitcoin Reclaims $81K as ZEC and HYPE Hit New Highs

Crypto Economy Market Cap Nears $2.9 Trillion

The cryptocurrency economy saw its total market capitalization reclaim the $2.8 trillion mark during a week in which privacy coins again outperformed the broader market. Market data showed that total market capitalization came within a whisker of breaching $2.9 trillion on Saturday, Sept. 19, amid a marketwide rally that saw high-flying altcoin Hyperliquid (HYPE) reach an all-time high.

Bitcoin provided much of the heavy lifting after surging to $81,914, its highest level since Sept. 4, completing a turnaround for the cryptocurrency, which had briefly dropped below $75,000 on Sept. 16. Although bitcoin’s price retreated to settle just above $81,000 around 2:45 p.m. EST, it was still up 5% for the week, a remarkable reversal following the failed CLARITY Act vote.

While bitcoin appeared to lose momentum below $82,000, altcoins HYPE and Zcash (ZEC) did not face such resistance as they marched to new highs. In HYPE’s case, the Saturday rally pushed the altcoin to $94.48, a milestone that brought its weekly gains to 18% and its year-to-date gains to 260%. The jump also pushed HYPE’s market capitalization past $20 billion.

Altcoins and Privacy Tokens Log Multi-Year Highs

Zcash (ZEC) also had a stellar week, logging consecutive double-digit gains on its way to a multi-year high of $1,590. The surge pushed the privacy coin’s market capitalization toward $25 billion, keeping ZEC in position as the ninth-most capitalized digital asset. With weekly gains reaching 36%, ZEC is up nearly 190% since the start of the year. Despite the rally, however, the privacy coin remains 54% below its Oct. 28, 2016, all-time high of $3,191.93.

Another privacy coin, NEAR, also had a strong week, climbing 75% from $2.33 on Sept. 13 to $4.06 on Sunday afternoon. Avalanche (AVAX) was another altcoin with notable gains, rising nearly 50% during the week. Meanwhile, several other high-cap altcoins, including ether (ETH) and XRP, rose between 3% and 6%.

Due to the broad surge in altcoin prices, the total market capitalization of altcoins jumped from $1.17 trillion at the start of the week to peak at $1.23 trillion on Saturday before slipping to just under $1.2 trillion by Sunday afternoon.

Some analysts assert that the current rally suggests an “altcoin season” is in its early stages. Prominent commentary account The Money Ape declared a “mini altseason confirmed,” highlighting that the ETH/BTC trading pair broke a five-year downtrend, a technical breakout historically considered a key bullish signal for altcoins outperforming bitcoin.

However, other market observers, such as Ted Pillows, warn that while an altseason is set to happen in the upcoming bull run, “it’ll be heavily dominated by quality alts.”