The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) updates the agenda for the roundtable on cryptocurrency, financial surveillance, and privacy on December 15. Notably, Zcash founder Zooko Wilcox and several leaders in the crypto industry will participate directly.
This is not an academic forum -
but a public dialogue on the core contradictions in cryptocurrency development over the past decade.
➡️ Anonymity vs Regulation.
➡️ Privacy vs Taxation.
➡️ Freedom vs Compliance.
This discussion reveals the most genuine trends and conflicts in the crypto industry.
One, the new hotspot in the crypto market: The battle for privacy is heating up again.
The recent hotspots in the crypto market are no longer just Bitcoin halving, AI tokens, and L2 expansion, but:
Privacy and transparency need to be redefined.
There are three reasons:
Institutional entry is massive.
ETFs, bank custody, and stablecoin settlements all require traceable funding paths.Global tax transparency is expanding.
The OECD's cryptocurrency tax framework (CARF) began implementation this year, with both the U.S. and Europe requiring exchanges to submit data.Privacy coin technology has a higher level of maturity.
Zero-Knowledge Proofs (ZKP) are not only used for anonymity but also for on-chain auditing, identity verification, etc.
Therefore, privacy is not dying; it is transforming.
Two, regulation vs anonymity: Where is the real conflict?
Regulators are concerned about four things:
✔ Money laundering.
✔ Terrorist financing.
✔ Tax evasion.
✔ Un-auditable.
And what crypto people emphasize is:
✔ Freedom.
✔ Property rights.
✔ Decentralization.
✔ Privacy rights.
Then the core of the conflict lies in:
Privacy rights are not criminal acts, but regulation needs boundaries.
This time, the SEC meeting actually acknowledged one thing:
Privacy coins are not enemies; the real problem is how to achieve 'compliant privacy'.
Three, tax pressures and trader dilemmas.
For traders, this reform will bring three direct changes:
① Tax transparency is irreversible.
Countries are pushing in the same direction:
Exchanges disclose user data.
Automated transaction record exchanges.
On-chain KYC and identity binding.
Future tax evasion costs will soar.
② Privacy rights become 'compliance premiums'.
Can achieve:
✔ Protecting privacy.
✔ Auditable.
✔ Regulated interfaces.
The technology will hold immense value.
③ The anonymous ecosystem is moving towards 'black and white polarization'.
Future anonymous coins will be divided into two categories:
Compliance privacy layer (for corporate/financial use).
Pure anonymity free zone (anti-system liquidity pool).
Traders need to know in advance:
The regulatory environment is clarifying, and the boundaries of the dark and grey areas will be squeezed.
Four, Bitcoin vs ZEC: The future destinies of two privacy directions.
Bitcoin: Privacy patches + mainstreaming path.
Bitcoin will not follow the path of anonymous coins; instead, its future direction is clearer:
✔ Sovereign reserve assets.
✔ Banking digital gold.
✔ ETF + auditing system.
✔ Regulation-friendly infrastructure.
Its privacy enhancement is a technical patch:
Taproot.
Lightning.
Account merging anonymity.
What it aims to achieve is:
Transparent regulation + enhanced transaction anonymity.
And not completely anonymous.
Conclusion:
Bitcoin is moving towards compliant financial infrastructure, resembling 'verifiable transparent assets'.
Zcash: The value reconstruction of privacy coins.
ZEC is 'the technical benchmark for privacy coins', but its future also faces path choices:
From pure anonymity → towards auditable and verifiable privacy.
In the future, ZEC is more likely to play:
✔ Institutional-level privacy protection layer.
✔ Financial transaction anonymity layer.
✔ Compliant and transparent optional structure (View Key mode).
It is not meant to be the opposite of Bitcoin, but rather:
Using privacy technology to fill the gaps in the regulated on-chain world.
If privacy is a necessity, then:
➡️ The value of ZEC is not 'avoiding regulation',
➡️ But 'building a regulatory-compliant confidential trading layer'.
This is a very obvious narrative reversal this year.
Five, the industrial path in the coming years: Three types of power redistribution.
① Exchanges: Transforming into crypto tax authorities.
Household registration + tax data entry.
② On-chain privacy: Transforming into public infrastructure.
Identity privacy, data privacy, and account privacy all require ZKP.
Privacy does not disappear; it merely transforms from 'rights' into 'capabilities'.
③ National regulation: no longer prohibitive but requiring interfaces.
From 'blacklist regulation'
to 'compliance interface regulation'.
Six, insights for traders.
In the next 2 to 5 years, crypto traders need to recognize three things:
Tax costs will rise, and tax evasion routes will disappear.
The value of privacy tools will rise - especially legitimate privacy.
Bitcoin's transparent infrastructure + privacy technology patches will make it more institutional.
And the most controversial yet certain point is:
Privacy coins will not die; they will become part of financial infrastructure.
Epilogue: The SEC roundtable is just the prologue.
Privacy is not illegal,
Regulation is not oppression.
The real trend is:
➡️ Anonymous finance will transform from 'underground tools' to 'compliant products'.
➡️ Privacy will be institutionalized rather than stripped away.
Bitcoin will become the public ledger of the mainstream world,
while projects like ZEC will play an indispensable role as privacy engines in the financial world.
When regulators understand the value of privacy, and privacy technology learns to coexist with regulation,
This century's game of 'transparency and freedom' -
has just begun.
