Everyone talks about the next small-cap moonshot. However, few look at the giants already shaping the market. So, today, I’m putting up 3 large caps side by side. These three altcoins have real history, real use cases, and very different futures. And one of them is up, 1250% in the last 3 months.
Today, I’ll show you the hard numbers, the hidden risks, and the reasons these altcoins may still be a smart buy. No hype. No noise. Just a clear look at what each coin brings to the table. I will also look at which one of these altcoins can give you the strongest chance of long-term growth.
Zcash ($ZEC)
In today’s list of altcoins, I start with Zcash ($ZEC). Since early October, we’ve seen a massive $ZEC rally. I will get back to $ZEC’s numbers shortly. So, that was after $ZEC was dormant for almost 7 years. However, in the current climate, I observe growing real privacy adoption. But first check out my recent video on Zcash and other privacy altcoins.
Zcash recently has more activity in its shielded pools. Currently, that number is up to 30%. That’s 4.8 million out of 16.4 million $ZEC currently in circulation. This means that more $ZEC is being used with privacy tech. This lowers circulating trade supply and signals real demand for privacy.
Roughly 30% of $ZEC ’s total supply is now sitting inside shielded pools, taken off the visible market.
That’s a huge structural shift.
It effectively turns $ZEC into a semi-low-float asset, where even moderate buying pressure can move the needle far more aggressively than… pic.twitter.com/o9ERgo7TRw— TECA (@CryptoTeca__) November 16, 2025
Zk Technology
Zcash uses a strong and proven tech. One part is zero-knowledge proofs or zk-SNARKs. This is a cryptographic method that allows one party to prove the truth of a statement to another party. However, that’s without revealing any information beyond the statement’s validity. Zcash also moved from Halo proving system in NU5 in 2022. Thus, removing trusted setups and improving privacy/efficiency. That is a real technical edge versus older privacy designs.
In Zcash, zk-SNARKs enable user-privacy. The strong privacy guarantee is because shielded transactions in Zcash can be fully encrypted on the blockchain, yet still be verified as valid under the network’s consensus rules by using zk-SNARK proofs. https://t.co/n4hw7Nb2bx
— Zcash 🛡️ (@Zcash) November 1, 2022
Zcash’s $ZEC token has clear supply dynamics and scarcity. Like Bitcoin, there will only ever be 21 million $ZEC. However, I recently showed a shielded pool usage of 30%. This tightens effective liquid supply when more coins are shielded long term. Scarcity matters for price development.
However, there are also some risks to consider with Zcash. For example, many privacy altcoins are not listed on big exchanges. There’s also regulatory pressure on privacy altcoins. Furthermore, there can be compliance friction with KYC or AML requirements.
The current $ZEC price is $697 with an $11.28 billion market cap. Currently, 78% of $ZEC tokens already circulate. During the last year, $ZEC is up by, 1534%. The Winklevoss twins launched a Zcash treasury company. This is one of these altcoins to keep an eye out for.
Chainlink ($LINK)
With Chainlink ($LINK) we have one of my all-time fave altcoins at hand. You can find Chainlink back in almost every part of the crypto sector. It really is like the Swiss army knife of crypto. Take a look at my recent Chainlink video.
Chainlink offers ONE thing that hardly any other chain offers. Massive real-world usage and integration. I mentioned it already; you can find it everywhere in the crypto sector. Chainlink isn’t just hype. It powers data feeds, oracles, cross-chain messaging for many blockchains and protocols.
Source: X
Chainlink also shows growth in new verticals. For instance, tokenization or enterprise. It is expanding beyond pure DeFi into TradFi. Think of tokenized RWAs and multichain layers. This increases its long-term utility. A great sample is its CCIP feature. This connects over 70 chains. Around a year ago, it looked flat and dead. However, nowadays, it’s very active, as this picture shows. This also means revenue streams for Chainlink.
Chainlink also has clear tokenomics and a scarcity angle. The $LINK caps at 1 billion. Currently, 70% already circulates. There’s a relatively predictable unlock schedule. Each year, 7% of $LINK tokens unlock. This continues until October 2027. $LINK ETFs are also in the making.
🚨 LATEST: Bitwise Chainlink ETF advances with DTCC listing approval.$LINK pic.twitter.com/AW4u9flSrf
— Nathan Jeffay (@NathanOnCrypto) November 11, 2025
$LINK Reserve
However, there is also the $LINK reserve. Each week, Chainlink adds $LINK tokens to this reserve, with no plans to use the reserve anytime soon. This takes $LINK out of circulation and makes the token scarce. Currently, there is 800k $LINK in the reserve, worth around $11 million.
Source: Chainlink blog
However, Chainlink also has some risks to take into consideration. It’s heavily dependent on ecosystem usage. If DeFi and other protocols reduce usage of Chainlink feeds, demand could fall. There’s also competition and innovation risk. Currently, Chainlink dominates various market sectors. However, new oracle networks or tech improvements could erode its lead.
The current $LINK price is around $14. It’s down 25% over the last 30 days. That’s due to the current market situation, not to its fundamentals. This is a bargain for $LINK.
Stellar ($XLM)
Stellar ($XLM) is my last pick for today’s list of altcoins. It offers cross-border payment solutions on-chain. It’s built for fast, low-cost international transfers. At the same time, it connects disparate financial systems. That’s one of its strong foundational use-cases.
“Stellar has been a leading network for RWA issuance from the start…Now, the network is home to more than $500 million in RWAs (excluding stablecoins), making it the sixth-largest chain by RWA issuance.”
Read @MessariCrypto‘s RWA report on Stellar ⬇️https://t.co/hm8zOKXxJR
— Stellar (@StellarOrg) October 16, 2025
Stellar is also on the forefront of RWAs. It has a great capability for tokenizing RWAs. This opens a major growth pathway beyond just payments. For example, Mercado Bitcoin announced a $200 million RWA issuance on Stellar. That’s the largest investment platform in Latin America.
Source: Messari
This year, Stellar already partnered with Paxos, Ondo, Etherfuse and SG Forge. It aims to increase the value of RWAs held on-chain tenfold compared with last year. That should bring it to $3 billion. It is ambitious. However, it also shows that the SDF believes Stellar can scale RWA usage meaningfully within the year. As part of accelerating this process, Stellar introduced the $PYUSD stablecoin. You also can already find tokenized US Treasuries on Stellar.
Access to $3B in RWAs just landed on Stellar.
Step 1: Onchain + live on Stellar
Step 2: Turning volume into velocity. Getting assets into wallets and powering everyday financial services.
The future of real-world finance is here. @CNBC pic.twitter.com/9tflNe8Ztg
— Stellar (@StellarOrg) September 25, 2025
It also has a large ecosystem and established network. Stellar has already been around for a couple of years. The Stellar Development Foundation (SDF) is behind it. This gives it credibility and staying power.
So, let’s look at some risks for Stellar. First, there’s a large supply of $XLM. 50 billion to be precise. This means it may need large adoptation to move the needle. For a major upside move, it will need large volume. Cross-border payments and tokenization have plenty of competitors. For instance, Ripple and Ondo Finance, or even Chainlink.
So, the current $XLM price is around 25 cents with an $8 billion market cap. After almost 11 years, only 62% circulates. Like Ripple with $XRP, the team can still dump plenty of $XLM on its users.
The Verdict
Between these three, the battle is between Zcash and Chainlink. As a Chainlink fan, I would tend to favor Chainlink. However, I can’t deny the incredible growth and presence of Zcash. Not to mention that privacy should be available to everyone in crypto. So, this round goes to Zcash.
🛑 The State has NO RIGHT to know about:
🚗 Your movements
💳 Your finances
🛒 Your shopping habits
🛜 Your online activity
🧑🤝🧑 Your connections
❤️🩹 Your health
✝️ Your religion
or anything else about you!PRIVACY IS A HUMAN RIGHT!#No2DigitalID #notodigitalid pic.twitter.com/YhWIuRiAkF
— Know Your Human Rights (@HumanRights4UK) October 5, 2025
So, which project is your pick? Let me know in the comments and make sure to join our X and Discord channels.
Disclaimer
The information discussed by Altcoin Buzz is not financial advice. This is for educational, entertainment and informational purposes only. Any information or strategies are thoughts and opinions relevant to accepted levels of risk tolerance of the writer/reviewers, and their risk tolerance may be different from yours.
We are not responsible for any losses that you may incur as a result of any investments directly or indirectly related to the information provided. Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies are high-risk investments, so please do your due diligence.
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