Canton Leads Privacy Coin Rally As Midnight, Zcash, Monero Tick Up

Privacy coins Canton and Midnight have outperformed the market today, with Zcash and Monero also posting gains after the Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation announced it will issue tokenized securities on Canton Network.

As of writing, Canton has posted a 7% gain en route to $0.07615, while Midnight is up by 2.5% in the past 24 hours, at $0.06397, according to CoinGecko data.

Meanwhile, established privacy tokens Zcash and Monero are up by 2.9% and 1.5% respectively, as DEX aggregator ShapeShift announced that it has integrated Zcash as its default privacy rail.

Their upward momentum comes as the cryptocurrency market as a whole dipped slightly in response to the release of negative U.S. employment data yesterday.

The main catalyst for today’s privacy coin rally is the news that DTCC, which handled $3.7 quadrillion in financial transactions in 2024, will be using the Canton Network to issue tokenized securities.

As explained in a press release, the partnership will initially result in certain U.S. Treasuries held by DTCC being minted on Canton’s privacy-focused blockchain.

This will begin in the first half of 2026, with DTCC planning “to increase the size and scope of the project” in the following months, and with later phases coming in subsequent years.

DTCC also revealed that it will be taking a leadership position within Canton’s decentralized governance structure, while later taking the position of co-chair of the Canton Foundation in addition to Euroclear.

This embrace of Canton by DTCC, which underpins the entire U.S. financial infrastructure, has given a boost to privacy coins.

Privacy coins see uptick

In fact, privacy tokens have weathered the past few months of market negativity better than many other major coins, with Zcash up by over 650% since the middle of September, as it attracted institutional investment and more adoption from privacy-conscious traders.

It’s a similar story with Monero, which has risen by 8% in a week and is also up by 100% in the past year, at a time when even Bitcoin is down by 16% in the last 12 months.

Aside from yesterday’s DTCC announcement, the launch of both Canton and the InputOutput-founded Midnight has also provided a boost to the privacy coin market.

Midnight is now up by 170% since launching on December 9, according to CoinGecko data, while Canton has risen by 28% from its lowest-recorded price.

Its parent company, Digital Asset, announced strategic investments from the likes of BNY, Nasdaq and S&P Global, while it had previously reported $135 million in total funding.