Monero Rises After $23M Unexplained Buy; Zcash Drops

Monero rose 11% to $396.75 after on-chain records showed roughly $23 million moved into XMR. Zcash fell more than 6% to $520.05 as traders took profits following a multi-month rally.

Blockchain tracking showed a single wallet withdrew about $29.3 million in USDC from Coinbase, swapped portions into DAI, then routed roughly $23 million into Monero through the Wagyu over-the-counter venue using multiple wallets. An on-chain analysis of the transfers said the purchases occurred in a sequence that pushed XMR prices higher over a short period.

No public confirmation exists that the funds were stolen or compromised; the origin of the capital remains unverified. Large opaque purchases have triggered short-term Monero rallies in past instances.

Zcash’s pullback followed a climb earlier in May when the token reached above $640, a level not seen since 2017. ZEC is up about 57% over the past 30 days and more than 900% year over year. The earlier rally followed the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission closing a probe into the Zcash Foundation without enforcement action in January, a May disclosure of an institutional position, and a filing to convert a Zcash trust into a spot ETF.

About 30% of ZEC’s supply is held in shielded pools, which reduces the effective circulating float. The recent drop has brought ZEC closer to its 200-day moving average near $500.

Monero’s market capitalization is about $7.43 billion and Zcash’s is about $8.67 billion. Market participants are monitoring on-chain flows, liquidity in shielded pools, and technical price levels for further direction.