Crypto prices may be under pressure, but not every corner of the market is struggling. A growing number of analysts believe investors are becoming more selective, directing money toward sectors with stronger momentum rather than treating digital assets as a single market.
That view gained attention after Bankless co-founder David Hoffman described current conditions as a “bear market for crypto” but a bull market for perpetual trading platforms, artificial intelligence tokens, and privacy-focused cryptocurrencies.
Privacy coins lead
Anchorage Digital Head of Research David Lawant and Bitwise Chief Investment Officer Matt Hougan shared similar opinions, pointing to signs that crypto is starting to behave more like mature financial markets where capital rotates based on fundamentals.
Privacy coins have been among the biggest beneficiaries. CoinGecko data showed the category gained more than 8% over the past 24 hours, making it one of the strongest-performing sectors despite the broader downturn. Zcash and Monero continued to lead the group.
Zcash has surged 861% this year and recently touched $600 after Grayscale filed for a spot ZEC exchange-traded fund. Monero has also delivered impressive gains, rising 123% in 2025. Both outperformed Bitcoin during Wednesday’s selloff.
Perps and AI hold firm
Activity around perpetual trading tokens has remained surprisingly resilient as well. Although the category slipped slightly overall, projects such as Aster, Jupiter, and Lighter posted gains.
Hyperliquid held steady after recently overtaking Dogecoin to become the tenth-largest cryptocurrency by market value. Interest in the project has also been supported by the launch of another Hyperliquid-focused ETF from Grayscale.
Performance among AI-related tokens has been more mixed. Near Protocol stood out by climbing more than 12% even as the broader AI category declined. Lawant noted that AI tokens were among the few crypto sectors to post gains in the first quarter of 2026 as Bitcoin and Ethereum struggled.
