To be honest, many people in the industry have been hyping Bitcoin's anonymity recently, but anyone who has actually used it knows—it's all an illusion. Rather than calling it anonymous, it's more accurate to say it's a "transparent asset" that capital loves the most.

Just look at the data. A while ago, the US Department of Justice uncovered a scam worth over 15 billion and directly recovered 127,000 BTC. How did they do it? It's simple—once an address is linked to a real identity (for example, when withdrawing from an exchange), on-chain analysis tools can precisely trace every transaction. Transaction records are permanently on the chain, leaving no escape.

This is the current reality of BTC: it appears decentralized, but for regulators, it's just a ledger. Large holders moving funds can be seen clearly across the entire network.

In contrast, ZEC uses zk-SNARKs zero-knowledge proof technology, which works completely differently. Transaction details are encrypted throughout the process—amounts are hidden, sender is hidden, receiver is hidden, and only a mathematical proof remains on the chain. Nodes can verify the legitimacy of the transaction in just 3 milliseconds, but they cannot see any transaction content.

Imagine going to a casino to exchange chips: the dealer only needs to verify the authenticity and amount of the chips, without knowing your name or where the money came from. That's exactly what ZEC does—identity verification without exposing privacy.

Because of this, its appeal in certain scenarios is so strong. Even Silicon Valley insiders like Naval openly say, "Zcash is the true successor of digital gold."

But ZEC isn't perfect either. It needs to find a balance between privacy and mainstream adoption. Some exchanges have started delisting it because its privacy features can easily conflict with regulations. However, this only proves one thing—people with genuine privacy needs never lack tools.