The altcoin market took a heavy hit Friday, dragging the total capitalization down to $880 billion and wiping out more than $120 billion in value. Zcash was the worst performer among major tokens, plunging over 40% to $264.80. Several other high-cap altcoins logged double-digit losses as the sell-off pushed the aggregate altcoin cap below the $1 trillion threshold for the first time in weeks.
Zcash leads the plunge
Zcash's 40% collapse was the starkest outlier in a sea of red. The privacy-focused token shed more than $180 from its price in a single session, landing at $264.80. No single catalyst was immediately apparent, but the move came amid a broad risk-off turn across crypto markets. Trading volumes on major exchanges spiked as holders rushed to exit positions.
Altcoin cap sinks below $1 trillion
The aggregate market cap of all tokens excluding Bitcoin fell to $880 billion, according to data tracked Friday. That's down from roughly $1.05 trillion earlier this week. The drop below $1 trillion — a level that had held for the past several weeks — signals a sharp change in sentiment. Double-digit losses were widespread among the top 20 tokens by market cap, compounding the damage.
What the sell-off means
The timing isn't ideal for a market already jittery after a choppy May. The broad nature of the decline — hitting Zcash and a range of other tokens — suggests it wasn't a project-specific issue but rather a broad deleveraging or macro-driven event. No exchange outages or regulatory news were confirmed by press time, leaving traders to guess at the exact trigger.
Where things stand
By late Friday afternoon, Zcash was still trading near its lows, and the altcoin cap had not recovered materially. Whether the sell-off extends into next week depends largely on whether Bitcoin holds its own — so far, BTC has also slipped but less severely. The market's resilience, or lack of it, will be tested when Asian trading opens on Saturday.
