ZEC surged from $50 to $420 in two months, with a market value exceeding $7 billion, surpassing Monero for the first time.
zkSync's ZK token surged over 50% within 24 hours after Vitalik's endorsement.
However, at the same time, 73 exchanges worldwide will delist privacy coins in 2025, and 97 countries will implement stricter compliance frameworks. The EU confirmed a comprehensive ban on privacy coin trading by July 2027.
The crypto world excels at reverse operations: with regulatory pressure looming, prices are skyrocketing.
Why is this happening? Three reasons summarize it.
1. Scarcity is being repriced
Privacy is characterized as a 'forbidden item,' leading to an explosive increase in its value. Grayscale launched the ZCash Trust, and Wall Street institutions began to position themselves. What do they see? In the era of CBDCs and financial surveillance, anonymity has become the most scarce asset. ZCash's market value rose from 4 billion to 7 billion, not due to speculation, but a reassessment of the value of 'financial privacy rights.'
2. The divergence and life and death of technical routes
ZCash adopts an 'optional privacy' model, using zk-SNARKs technology, allowing for selective transparency, while Monero's 'mandatory privacy' faces security crises. This reflects a principle: absolutists will die, pragmatists will survive. Although zkSync is not a pure privacy coin, the ZK technology itself represents the future direction of 'compliant privacy'; privacy is not black and white, but layered and controllable.
3. Time window and smart money
There are only 18 months left until the EU ban takes effect in 2027. Smart money is seizing the last opportunity to get on board. But this is not an all-in signal. After a 10-fold increase, are you holding an asset or a hot potato?
Privacy coins will not die, but will split.
1. Compliance faction (ZCash, zkSync system) will survive in the cracks, serving the needs of the 'gray area'.
2. Extremists (Monero) move underground, becoming standard in the dark web.
The future of privacy coins depends on whether you believe regulation will win or technology will win.