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Altcoin Report

Zcash Leads Altcoin Board as Market Cap Slips

Privacy coin Zcash gains 16.96% in 24 hours, but the wider market sheds 1.70% and fear sentiment lingers.

Thu, 17 Sep 2026 12:30:50 GMT · written by the desk from live feeds

Key points

  • Zcash rose 16.96% in 24 hours to $1,353.07, the largest gain among tracked assets.
  • Rain fell 8.20% on the day and 21.30% over seven days to $0.01286325.
  • Total crypto market capitalisation is $2.62T, down 1.70% in 24 hours, with BTC dominance at 58.35%.
  • The Fear and Greed index reads 50 (Neutral) against a desk sentiment value of 41 (Fear).
  • DeFi TVL stands at $87.53B, with Ethereum at $49.43B, and OKX BTC-USDT swap funding is 0.0064% per eight hours.

Zcash Sets the Pace

Zcash (ZEC) is the standout on the altcoin board, up 16.96% over 24 hours to $1,353.07 and 9.90% across the week. Its market capitalisation stands at $22.91B on $2.58B of daily volume, placing it tenth among the largest assets. NEAR Protocol follows with a 12.47% daily gain to $2.65, adding 5.40% over seven days. Aster rose 7.14%, Canton 7.01% and Uniswap 5.97%, the last of those up 12.30% on the week.

Rain Retreats as Sentiment Stays Cautious

Rain is the weakest name in the sample, down 8.20% in 24 hours and 21.30% over seven days to $0.01286325. Bitway fell 5.38% on the day even after a 61.90% weekly advance. Monero slipped 1.37%. The wider picture is soft: total crypto market capitalisation stands at $2.62T, down 1.70% in 24 hours, with Bitcoin dominance at 58.35%. The Fear and Greed index reads 50, labelled Neutral, down a point from yesterday's 51, while the desk sentiment reading sits at 41, labelled Fear.

DeFi and Derivatives in Focus

Total value locked across DeFi is $87.53B, with Ethereum commanding $49.43B of that. Solana follows at $5.84B, Base at $5.55B, BSC at $5.53B, Tron at $5.42B and Bitcoin at $4.13B. In derivatives, the OKX BTC-USDT perpetual swap carries a funding rate of 0.0064% per eight hours, with open interest of $2.20B.

Elsewhere, XRP gave back 6.60% over the week to $1.29, and Sui lost 6.20% across the same window. Gold-backed tokens moved lower, with PAX Gold down 0.85% to $4,294.66 and Tether Gold down 0.77% to $4,293.46. Bitcoin trades at $76,299, up 0.52% on the day but down 2.30% on the week.

Written from this data — audit every number

The exact data bank handed to the model (deepseek / deepseek-flash) at 2026-09-17T12:30:50.571Z. The model may use nothing else. Sources: CoinGecko, Alternative.me, DeFiLlama, mempool.space, OKX, and the RSS headlines listed.

{
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 "fear_greed": {
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  "label": "Neutral",
  "yesterday": 51
 },
 "desk_sentiment": {
  "value": 41,
  "label": "Fear"
 },
 "defi": {
  "total_tvl": 87533550719,
  "top_chains": [
   {
    "name": "Ethereum",
    "tvl": 49431221012
   },
   {
    "name": "Solana",
    "tvl": 5844546570
   },
   {
    "name": "Base",
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   },
   {
    "name": "BSC",
    "tvl": 5527438338
   },
   {
    "name": "Tron",
    "tvl": 5417608328
   },
   {
    "name": "Bitcoin",
    "tvl": 4128423209
   },
   {
    "name": "Arbitrum",
    "tvl": 1369740468
   },
   {
    "name": "Hyperliquid L1",
    "tvl": 1311443190
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 },
 "derivatives": {
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  "funding_rate_pct_8h": 0.0064,
  "next_funding_at": 1789660800000,
  "open_interest_usd": 2195163972,
  "venue": "OKX BTC-USDT-SWAP"
 },
 "headlines": [
  {
   "title": "Goldman pivots, now forecasts Fed rate hike in October",
   "source": "CoinDesk",
   "published_at": "2026-09-17T04:17:55.000Z"
  },
  {
   "title": "‘Not the end’: Sen. Gillibrand says Democrats still committed to passing Clarity Act",
   "source": "The Block",
   "published_at": "2026-09-17T02:09:31.000Z"
  },
  {
   "title": "Crypto Tax Bill Clears House Committee After Clarity Act Setback",
   "source": "Decrypt",
   "published_at": "2026-09-16T21:46:03.000Z"
  },
  {
   "title": "Meta May Have Found a Fix for Its 'Pervert Glasses'",
   "source": "Decrypt",
   "published_at": "2026-09-16T21:16:03.000Z"
  },
  {
   "title": "CLARITY Act could get another shot during lame-duck session, policy advocate says",
   "source": "CoinTelegraph",
   "published_at": "2026-09-16T20:51:38.000Z"
  },
  {
   "title": "OpenAI's Rogue AI Agents Were Probing Hugging Face Two Months Before Hack",
   "source": "Decrypt",
   "published_at": "2026-09-16T20:31:03.000Z"
  }
 ],
 "data_as_of": "2026-09-17T05:45:35.440Z"
}

This is automated market commentary generated from public data feeds. It is not financial advice. Cryptocurrency markets are volatile — do your own research and never invest more than you can afford to lose.