Whales Accumulate Top Privacy and AI Cryptos for Long-Term Gains

Published by

Steve Muchoki

May 13, 2026

Illustration of the U.S. Capitol building emerging from turbulent ocean waves filled with legislative papers labeled Amendment 100, 46, 23, and 7.

Privacy cryptocurrencies such as Zcash (ZEC) and Horizen (ZEN) are seeing significant whale allocations as private-preserving tools see heightened demand. A similar appetite is evident for Artificial Intelligence (AI)-related tokens amid the industry’s massive growth. These include Bittensor (TAO), Render (RENDER), and NEAR Protocol (NEAR).

Whales are loading up on privacy and AI tokens

Grayscale Zcash Trust is one of the largest institutional vehicles for Zcash, now holding a total of 390,111 ZEC tokens (over 2.4% of the circulating supply) after it began accumulation in 2017. Cypherpunk Technologies holds 1.78% of the circulating supply, while Multicoin Capital holds a “significant position” in the same. ZEC now trades at $565.07, up 10.97% over the past week due to institutional interest.

Similarly, Grayscale is the top holder of ZEN with 961,450 ZEN tokens (5.3% of the circulating supply), having launched a trust in 2018. Its parent company, Digital Currency Group (DCG) was also an early investor in the project’s 2019 seed round.

As for AI tokens, once again, Grayscale is a major holder, having begun accumulation in 2021. The firm’s AI portfolio is mostly made of NEAR (32.56%), followed by TAO, RENDER, and Filecoin (FIL) at 26.49%, 22.18%, and 18.77%, respectively.

One whale wallet has been holding 17.01% of RENDER’s total supply since 2023. Meanwhile, venture capitalists such as a16z and Tiger Global Management hold a combined 14.38% of NEAR’s total supply, accumulated gradually since 2019.

Caveats

That said, some privacy cryptocurrencies, such as KnoxNet (KNX), are still viewed with caution due to their thin liquidity. Regulators are also not very friendly to the likes of Monero, since its full-privacy feature conflicts with anti-money-laundering requirements.

As for AI, some analysts still warn of an AI bubble forming, similar to that of the dot-com era. They argue that most AI investments are driven by speculative hype rather than actual infrastructure growth.

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