The Crypto Dude𝕊

[Adam Back @adam3us]

> raised $19.5 billion in the first nine months of 2025. money did not go to new Bitcoin purchases. It went to service the debt

nonsense, they bought 193,631 btc!

https://t.co/NtpoK71pvC

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[Simon @simononchain]

If you told me 6 months ago that Zcash would start absorbing Bitcoin’s original use-case, I’d have laughed.

Today, I’m not so sure...

In fact, I believe a strong case can be made that BTC's original cypherpunk vision has been hijacked.

Not just because it has underperformed things like the $QQQ's, but because its role as a sovereign, censorship-resistant, private medium of wealth storage and transfer has been hollowed out...

For example,

~9% of all BTC sits in US ETFs or government treasuries today; custodial, surveilled, fully transparent structures where individual sovereignty is basically zero.
At the same time, global financial surveillance is accelerating.

From EU stablecoin balance caps, eventual roll outs of CBDC’s across a range of jurisdictions and the very real possibility of a more interventionist, anti crypto “democratic socialist” US government.

What many no longer discuss is that Bitcoin actually had an opportunity to fix this over a decade ago...

The Zerocoin proposal, a cryptographically sound privacy layer designed specifically for Bitcoin, was brought to the community in 2013.

It could have become Bitcoin’s native shielded transaction system or at least a sidechain that preserved the asset’s cypherpunk roots.
But Bitcoin Core rejected it.

Not because it didn’t work, but because the culture had already begun shifting toward “don’t change Bitcoin,” ossification, and risk-aversion.

The team behind Zerocoin eventually left and created Zcash, implementing the privacy Bitcoin refused to adopt.

Against that backdrop, Bitcoin has no credible way to shield balances or transaction flows.

Even Satoshi openly acknowledged this limitation in 2010: “If a solution was found, a much better, easier, more convenient implementation of Bitcoin would be possible.”

He was talking specifically about privacy.
If you go back through Bitcointalk archives, it’s clear a lot of early Bitcoiners believed that if stronger cryptographic tools existed then, Bitcoin would’ve implemented them from day one.

That sentiment never fully went away, and as modern ZK proving systems have matured, it’s resurfaced in a very real way.

This is (IMO) one of the biggest drivers behind ZEC’s recent outperformance today.

But why ZEC then and not $XMR?

Monero is obfuscation, not encryption; so it is weaker from a technical POV.

Further, XMR's branding as a “darknet coin” permanently limits its mainstream legitimacy. Zcash, on the other hand, has consciously rebranded itself around freedom, sovereignty, and cryptographic integrity, not as the preferred currency of criminals...

/////

The larger, more recent and timely unlock for ZEC though, is less around its branding but more around recent advances in UX.

Last month, NEAR Intents fully integrated ZEC, rolling out Zashi Swaps.

This has helped enable native, shielded, cross-chain swaps directly onchain and on mobile (without having to use a CEX).This is the infrastructure ZEC never had.

And since its gone live, the market has reacted.

$ZEC has already gone from ~$78 to a peak of ~$800 before settling in the ~$500 range today, and on Near Intents it’s now out-voluming Bitcoin:

30D: $390M ZEC vs. $272M BTC
7D: $168M ZEC vs. $94M BTC

These flows tell a very clear story: since its become trivial for users to rotate their BTC into ZEC in a fully non-custodial, private way, they've begun doing it.

You can also see this playing out directly on-chain.

Since October 1st, nearly 1 million ZEC (+25%) has moved into shielded pools, almost all of it driven by a vertical explosion in the Orchard pool once intents + mobile UX went live.
Nearly 5M ZEC is now sitting in shielded pools.

Another important point: the Winklevoss twins have publicly thrown their support behind ZEC.

While it may be easy to write them off as low signal these days, them throwing their weight behind a new token is very significant.

People forget how instrumental they were to Bitcoin’s early breakout, they:

- were among the first major BTC whales (held ~1% of supply)
- helped shape the macro narrative in 2013
- provided early liquidity pipelines
- and they helped legitimize Bitcoin to institutions at a time when nobody else could.

In this sense, their backing isn’t symbolic but also signals to a very specific class of early adopters that ZEC is worth paying attention to.

Their alignment with the Trump administration also adds a non-trivial political dimension...

And it’s not just them. An increasing number of early BTC whales, have started to acknowledge that ZEC is picking up the values Bitcoin has slowly drifted away from.

You can feel that shift in tone if you track who’s resurfacing in the conversation

Finally, ZEC has also stood out because it’s been one of the only PvE assets since the October upgrade went live, not PvP like the rest of the space has felt.

Where most of crypto has been existing participants trading against each other (plus some ETF- and DAT-specific flows), ZEC has actually pulled in new capital:

- BTC holders rotating for privacy reasons
- off-chain capital looking for sovereignty guarantees
- and even Silicon Valley technologists who still believe in and want exposure to the original cypherpunk ethos.

When you put all of this together:

- institutional/government capture of BTC
- rising global surveillance
- Satoshi’s own comments about Bitcoin’s missing privacy layer
- Bitcoin core’s refusal to adopt Zerocoin or any credible privacy upgrade (forcing its creators to build Zcash instead)
- OG Bitcoiners revisiting the “what Bitcoin should have been” argument
- ZEC’s technical superiority over XMR
- the Zashi/Intents UX unlock
- volume flipping BTC
- shielded supply going parabolic
- major early Bitcoin figures (Winklevoss + others) now supporting ZEC
- ZEC being one of the few PvE assets this cycle

…it becomes difficult to ignore the possibility that $ZEC is stepping into the role Bitcoin abandoned, a store of value with privacy and sovereignty built in.

[John Haar @john_at_swan]

Have you ever wondered why so many people in legacy finance don't get Bitcoin (and sound money)?

After a 13-year career at Goldman Sachs I have many experiences on this topic and I’ve tried to offer some insights in a new piece.

🧵👇

Hope you find it thought-provoking!

[Kraken @krakenfx]

NEW Listing and Staking on Kraken ⚡️

$SCRT @secretnetwork deposits begin NOW & trading is live April 1st!

Earn up to 20% in yearly rewards, issued weekly with instant stake & unstake.

Learn more👇

https://t.co/6hNgNyuzRP

[The Crypto Dude𝕊 @cryptocoin1995]

@Shade_Protocol Airdrop claim is live! Claim your $SHD tokens now! $SILK #WAGMI https://t.co/tG0JM2kXrH

[Secret Network @SecretNetwork]

The Shockwave that began in January continues to ripple into February ⚡️🌊

Revealing new funding, new partners, and new products was only the beginning.

So what new secrets will this new month bring, in our most explosive growth phase yet?

$SCRT 🤫

https://t.co/JQCkIErEIi

[Tor Bair 🧑‍🍳 @TorBair]

msg to $JUNO @JunoNetwork and other @cosmos chains

it is hugely in your interest to reserve airdrop allocations for the very passionate and curious $SCRT community

i am certain that the many upcoming projects on our network would be happy to respond in kind :)

🤝 interchain 🤝

[The Crypto Dude𝕊 @cryptocoin1995]

Accidentally minted three instead of two
@MetaRatsNFT
and got rank 75 as the third one #MetaRats

[Legendao⚡️ @LegendaoNFT]

And the winner of the ORIGINAL 'ROYALE WITH CHEESE' SCREENPLAY NFT is @AnonsNFT, who bid $1.1M! 🥳🥳

We received a lot of great bids on the first NFT in the collection, but Anons took the prize.

The 2nd auction, 'Pumpkin and Honey Bunny' is now live @ https://t.co/O1fmcrN4Rm

[Chameleon Ville @ChameleonVille]

FUN FACT SERIES #3
The Character Selection Screen and it's intricacies.
A legacy beginning with a mint on @SecretNetwork

We're giving away whitelist spots to 2 people!
- Follow + RT

$SCRT $LUNA $SOL $ETH $AVAX

Telegram: https://t.co/jwxCYYUqCJ
Discord: https://t.co/IdbE4BWxxq

[Shinobi Protocol @ShinobiProtocol]

We are pleased to announce the launch of our public beta test🥷🥳

The public beta test is open to everyone and can be accessed via the link below🚀
https://t.co/qhMveZ9UDB

Read more👀

[Legendao⚡️ @LegendaoNFT]

We like em.

[Legendao⚡️ @LegendaoNFT]

ONLY 30 MINUTES LEFT for the 1st auction!

Bids are now hovering around the $1M mark, with several high bidders coming in the last hour.

Who else is gonna take a shot at *the one and only copy of the original Royale with Cheese screenplay chapter*?

[Thomas Sowell Quotes @ThomasSowell]

The political left seems to regard economic policy issues as litmus tests for whether you are a good person, rather than as questions of facts about what works and doesn't work.

[Pierre Poilievre @PierrePoilievre]

What is money?

[Legendao⚡️ @LegendaoNFT]

We will not be stopped. We will not let bullies intimidate our community.

After 25 years and for the first time ever, you will be able to see the original, handwritten screenplay of Pulp Fiction. Auction starts Monday – no delays. Register now on https://t.co/O1fmcrN4Rm

[Secret Network @SecretNetwork]

Live NOW on @YahooFinance: @GuyZys explains the @TarantinoNFTs auctions, Secret #NFTs, and what's coming next from @scrt_labs and Secret Network!

Watch 📺
https://t.co/Qg44T0j3RX

$SCRT

[The Crypto Dude𝕊 @cryptocoin1995]

@ChameleonVille @SecretNetwork @aantonop @cobie

[Chameleon Ville @ChameleonVille]

The latest #TarantinoNFTs lawsuit once again proves the power of @SecretNetwork . To welcome the our followers from other chains to $SCRT, we are giving away 5 whitelist spots and 50 $SCRT.

To enter:
-RT, Follow and mention 2 friends
-Enter giveaway at: https://t.co/qEBz8FOOXt