Renowned privacy coins, namely Monero (XMR), Zcash (ZEC), and Dash (DASH), in recent weeks, have seen a massive surge in prices. This comes amid the Ukraine war and immense regulatory pressure. Experts attributed the price surge to the potential of privacy-enhanced assets to provide investors with a greater level of financial anonymity.
Monero, as per CoinMarketCap, has recorded price gains of 13.15% in the last week. At the time of writing this article, XMR was trading at $217.52. Zcash has gained as much as 20.35% in the last week, while Dash has had its price increase by 11.7%. These privacy coins are enjoying enormous patronage. Investors believe these coins can provide them with much-needed financial anonymity.
Moreover, the privacy coins have emerged as the biggest winners in the geopolitical crisis and the US’s newly signed executive order. Initially, the focus has mainly been on the two most popular cryptocurrencies – Bitcoin and Ethereum, but now privacy coins like Monero have seen a steady influx of investors.
However, the increasing demand for privacy coins will once again attract regulators. Authorities and watchdogs have been looking at ways to bypass security and anonymity features. A clear example is a ban in South Korea. The Financial Services Commission called privacy coins “dark coins” and cited their uses in money laundering, and ransomware attacks. The agency pointed out that privacy coins add a third-party process that hides transaction records. It makes the involved parties totally anonymous and makes it very difficult for law enforcement to track them down.
The US Financial Crimes Enforcement Network had also highlighted that AECs use different technologies to prevent security officers from being able to recognize transaction activity on the blockchain.
