Okay, so the world's gone full-on surveillance state, and suddenly everyone's a privacy advocate? Give me a break. But hey, at least someone's making money off it.
Privacy coins—Zcash (ZEC), Monero (XMR), the whole lot of 'em—are surging. We're talking Zcash up like 741% since late September. That's not a typo. Seven. Hundred. Forty. One. Percent. Monero's only up 54%, which, let's be real, is chump change by comparison. Even the has-beens like Decred and Dash are getting in on the action, rallying 145% and 337% respectively.
What's driving this? According to "experts," people are scared. Scared of AI, scared of governments, scared of their own shadows. They're ditching the "institutional-focused crypto assets" – you know, the ETFs and the stuff Wall Street wants you to buy – and running back to the digital shadows.
I mean, come on. Are we really surprised?
Remember Tornado Cash? The Feds came down on them hard. Co-founder Roman Storm got convicted, another developer's doing five years in the Netherlands. Then, because the government operates with the consistency of a toddler throwing a tantrum, the U.S. Treasury removed Tornado Cash from the sanctions list. What the hell is that even supposed to mean?
It's like they're saying, "We're watching you, but not really watching you… until we are again."
This whole thing is a joke. People think they're buying "self-protection" with these coins? That's adorable. You're still on the blockchain, folks. You're just making it a little harder for the suits to track you. A little.
Zcash is suddenly the darling of the privacy crowd, boasting that 25-30% of its circulating supply is tucked away in its shielded pool. And over 30% of transactions are using it. Good for them. They even have a first-party wallet, Zashi, that makes private transfers the default. Project Tachyon promises to boost Zcash throughput to "thousands" of private transactions per second. Thousands! As if that actually matters to the average user.
But let's be real honest here, I'm not convinced. Is this a genuine shift towards privacy, or just another speculative bubble fueled by fear? And if it is about privacy, how long before the government decides to crack down on Zcash and Monero, too?
The thing is, governments don't like things they can't control. And while these privacy coins offer a semblance of anonymity, they're not exactly Fort Knox. If they really wanted to, the Feds could probably find ways to deanonymize transactions, especially if quantum computing ever becomes a real threat.
Plus, let's not forget the exchange delistings. Kraken Monero, anyone? It's happened before, and it will happen again. Back to the Beginning: Crypto’s Privacy Revival Marks a Full Circle - CoinDesk
What happens then? Do these coins just disappear into the ether? Or do they become even more valuable as black market currencies? Guess we'll see.
I mean, come on. You really think buying some XMR or ZEC is going to protect you from the all-seeing eye of Big Brother? It's cute, really. Like putting a band-aid on a gunshot wound.
