The explosion of the privacy track is no longer just hype but an inevitable result of industry evolution. From past regulatory suppression to becoming a compliance necessity, the new generation of privacy projects is reshaping the underlying architecture of the crypto industry through “programmable compliance” technology. This article is based on an original piece by Haotian, compiled, translated, and written by Foresight News.
(Background recap: 3,200 Bitcoin community members sign petition for Trump to pardon Samourai: Wallet developers are neutral and should not be considered money laundering)
(Additional background: The US strikes again! Samourai mixer founder arrested on money laundering charges, Snowden angrily criticizes:侵犯金融隐私)

Table of Contents

• Core driving logic: from regulatory suppression to compliance requirements
• The inevitable explosion of the privacy track
  • 1. @zama（FHE）：The foundational infrastructure revolution of privacy technology
  • 2. @anoma（Intent-centric）：An intent operating system reconstructing transaction paradigms
  • 3. @boundless_xyz（zkVM）：Infrastructure for the marketization of ZK computing power
• Conclusion

Why will the privacy track be the core narrative of crypto in 2026? Besides $ZEC , it is recommended to pay attention to the potential performance opportunities of Zama, Boundless, and Anoma:

Core driving logic: from regulatory suppression to compliance requirements

1. First, let’s discuss the core driving logic: the privacy track has evolved from being suppressed by regulation into a necessity for compliance.

For the past decade, blockchain privacy has been a false proposition because the technical approach was wrong. Most projects pursued privacy for privacy’s sake, implementing indiscriminate anonymity, neglecting regulatory boundaries and commercial feasibility, which led to continuous regulatory crackdown. The sanctions on @TornadoCash@ are a typical example.

2. By 2025-2026, the situation will be different. The strong performance of $ZEC in the secondary market is the clearest signal. As a veteran privacy leader, @Zcash@ proved over ten years and with Naval’s endorsement that privacy is not a false demand, but just a matter of timing. The core technical approach has changed.

This generation of privacy projects is all about “programmable compliance,” protecting user privacy while leaving backdoors for regulators. This perfectly aligns with the underlying architecture of the institutional-driven crypto era, such as RWA asset tokenization and transaction agentization.

The inevitable explosion of the privacy track

3. Therefore, the explosion of the privacy track is no longer just hype but an inevitable result of industry evolution. Following this logic, let’s look at the strategic positioning of the three projects below:

1. @zama（FHE）：The foundational infrastructure revolution of privacy technology

This is the fundamental infrastructure revolution of privacy technology. The key is understanding the essential difference between FHE (Fully Homomorphic Encryption) and ZK (Zero-Knowledge proofs). Zcash uses ZK to prove “I know the secret,” but FHE can process data directly in encrypted state. For example, Zcash can hide transfer amounts, but FHE allows entire DeFi protocols—collateralization, lending, liquidation—to operate fully in ciphertext, with nodes unaware of what is being computed.

Zama does not build a new chain but provides a privacy layer for all EVM-compatible chains, similar to “HTTPS for blockchain.” Through fhEVM, Zama enables mainstream chains like Ethereum, Base, Solana to gain privacy computing capabilities, opening possibilities for scaled commercial applications. Once positioned in this role, it becomes the “seller of tools” for the entire crypto industry.

The key point is that Zama is collaborating with Fabric Cryptography to develop FPGA acceleration cards. Once implemented, FHE TPS can increase by 10-100 times, and gas costs can be reduced by two orders of magnitude. At that point, it could shed the “toy” label of FHE cryptography and move toward mass-market applications;

2. @anoma（Intent-centric）：An intent operating system reconstructing transaction paradigms

This is a positioning of a Web3 intent operating system aimed at restructuring transaction paradigms. Traditional DeFi users’ transactions are often exposed in the mempool, revealing intent to MEV bots. Anoma addresses privacy by allowing users to publish encrypted intents, and a solver matches transactions without decrypting (using FHE or TEE);

It’s clear that solving privacy is just the entry point; it also addresses multi-chain fragmentation and interaction complexity.

3. @boundless_xyz（zkVM）：Infrastructure for the marketization of ZK computing power

This is the infrastructure for ZK computing power marketization, solving the problem of “general-purpose privacy proofs,” which has been seriously underestimated in the privacy track. Boundless, incubated by @RiscZero@, has made ZK proof generation programmable into tradable computing commodities, modularly embedded into any scene requiring ZK verification.

In the future, after the large-scale demand for ZK-Rollup and ZK Coprocessor explodes, Boundless will be the decentralized platform generating massive ZK proofs. Boundless opens up infinite possibilities for privacy applications: on-chain identity, on-chain credit, on-chain compliance, AI agent strategy proofs—all can be realized with zkVM for privacy protection.

Conclusion

Rational analysis suggests that the growth of the privacy track cannot rely solely on Zcash. If $ZEC is a super narrative engine for the privacy track, then Zama (encryption computation layer), Anoma (intent matching layer), and Boundless (general proof layer) form the complete technical stack supporting the vibrant development of the privacy narrative—indispensable.