Optional Privacy isn’t Privacy- it’s Surveillance

Before I get into this let me be extremely clear: I am owned by no one. I don’t know anyone in the crypto space personally and have no ties to any of these projects whatsoever. I receive no compensation from any communities, organizations, or individuals to talk about literally anything (not that I haven’t tried… lol). These opinions are my own and aren’t influenced by, well, anyone. While I’ve interacted with people in the crypto space through social media that does NOT mean I am friends or acquaintances with anyone.

I’m pre-empting the inevitable push back from those with a vested interest in peddling surveillance coins as a “reasonable” and “convenient” option for commerce or as a “tool” to protect your financial rights.

I’m a stickler for meaning. When we think about the relationship of words and meaning we realize words are the symbols which carry meaning. The nature of communication is to convey meaning through those carrier symbols. This is the way we paint reality. Our words are carefully chosen and then we attempt convey meaning. Words, however, are imperfect- they’re akin to empty shells whose meaning can be changed with context and time. We’ve all experienced this in one form or another like with the word “ghost”. It used to refer to ghosts and the supernatural but has since been used to refer to the idea of avoiding someone.

The carrier shell “ghost” didn’t change. The meaning did.

The change to ghost could have happened for various reasons like people could have started using it as a more convenient way to convey an idea or maybe it was part of an inside joke. Who knows? The word “ghost” has multiple meanings now.

Sometimes, however, there’s more nefarious reasons for changing the meaning of words.

Take the word “microaggression”. It’s designed to shift responsibility from the listener to the speaker. This subtle shift makes it seem that people don’t have the freedom of speech they believe they have- that people should be more responsible with speech lest they “harm” someone by offending them- never mind that the listener can choose to change the channel or NOT react to it. It doesn’t matter what the word originally meant. The people wielding it today are using it maliciously, and the ones who fall for it are simply those who don’t grasp the relationship between words and their actual meaning—they go along with it because it’s popular.

We see this twisting of meaning in order to shift perception elsewhere. For example, most people think “taxation” isn’t a form of theft even though it is by every single definition. The same is true of digital piracy- it’s not theft… it’s copy/paste. We see btc maxis say, “bitcoin not crypto” as a way to deceive people that btc isn’t a cryptocurrency, when it is by every single logical and rational metric.

You tell a lie over and over again long enough, people eventually capitulate and accept it. Story as old as time.

The Optional “Privacy Coin” Deception

Ok… words change over time. It’s natural. What does this have to do with “privacy coins”?

Everything.

There’s a battle being fought right now over the term “privacy coin”. People are debating it, they’re using it in contexts that don’t make sense, and they’re twisting the definition to make it something that it isn’t. I don’t actually know who’s behind this, but to me… it isn’t organic, that’s for sure, given that any reasonable person would assume a “privacy coin” is private-by-default… not surveillance-by-default. There’s clearly a concerted effort to change the definition. If it sticks, then we must come up with another word or phrase to exclude surveillance-by-default coins so that we don’t lose the meaning to nefarious actors.

I’m even seeing people I respect in the space begin to use malicious definitions of “privacy coin” to make it seem like surveillance-by-default coins are really just privacy coins.

Meaning matters.

Let’s rip the band-aid off right here:
There’s only one feature that makes a coin a privacy coin- that it is private-by-default. Transactions must hide the sender, the receiver, and the amount AND the complete ledger must be a black box. That’s it. That’s the only characteristic that makes it different than every other coin out there. If it satisfies that condition, it’s a privacy coin.

If the ledger can be surveilled, it’s not a privacy coin. It’s that simple. Optional privacy isn’t privacy- it’s surveillance-by-default (I’ll explain in detail below). It’s that reality which promoters of surveillance-by-default coins refuse to acknowledge. They want so badly for their coin to be referred to as a privacy coin they’ll make up any excuse to justify it- even going so far as public defamation and outright lying.

Let me make it clear that I’m not leveling that charge at every one who does this. Not everyone knows they’re doing it. Sometimes they’re friends with people from these surveillance-by-default crypto projects and want to maintain relationships. I get it. It’s hard to disagree with your friends. I don’t have that problem because I don’t know anyone personally in the crypto space so I’m immune to social pressure.

Why It Matters

This world is an adversarial environment. Every transaction you make with fiat is being surveilled, tracked, and traced. Your data is leaking everywhere and governments and companies are Hoovering it all up as fast as they can to feed to AI to then use against you.

Now, more than ever, we need a truly private way to transact with one another that treats all transactions equally.

Privacy advocates keenly understand this and so they push to educate you on software alternatives which avoid Big Brothers gaze like encrypted email and chat software, private operating systems for web and mobile, private web browsers, software tools which don’t collect data, and so much more. They understand that the only way to opt-out of this growing surveillance apparatus is to reclaim your natural right to privacy and anonymity using tools which don’t make privacy optional or surveillance possible.

This is why it’s so important to be critical of so-called privacy advocates who advocate for cryptocurrencies which aren’t private-by-default. They’re selling you snake oil wrapped in a “privacy coin” lie.

• They’ll say: “Our coin has the best privacy technology!” But then it won’t be private-by-default. Let’s say it’s 100% true that their privacy technology is the best in the world and that there is no second best. If the technology is so good, then why isn’t it being used to protect every single transaction? Do those so-called privacy advocates actually care about privacy? Or do they care more about surveillance optionality? There are 22,000+ cryptos to choose from and nearly all of them are surveillance-by-default. What makes your coin so special if it emulates the same surveillance properties that 99.99999% of coins already do? That’s not privacy… that’s covering yourself in a blanket and pretending you’re private.

• They’ll say: “Privacy is a choice and should be optional!” Sounds great in theory. But then you remember that your fiat bank account isn’t transparent-by-default. These so-called privacy advocates wouldn’t advocate for transparent bank accounts with optional privacy… so why would they promote surveillance-by-default coins? Think about it, your wallet is your crypto “bank” account. They’re telling you that it should be transparent for all to surveil. That’s a HUGE red flag.

• They’ll say: “Coins need to comply with regulations!” Then you read “A Cypherpunk’s Manifesto” written in 1993:

“Cypherpunks deplore regulations on cryptography, for encryption is fundamentally a private act. The act of encryption, in fact, removes information from the public realm. Even laws against cryptography reach only so far as a nation’s border and the arm of its violence. Cryptography will ineluctably spread over the whole globe, and with it the anonymous transactions systems that it makes possible.”

-Eric Hughes

Then you ask… who are these so-called privacy advocates which seek to comply with rights-violating regulations? Regulations are what helped proliferate the surveillance apparatus. Yet, they promote a coin whose very ledger is tailor-made for surveillance… ? Make it make sense!

• They’ll say, “But if you don’t comply with exchange rules it won’t be listed, or will be delisted, will affect the price, and will prevent it from being adopted”. I reject the premise. Why, in the midst of this massive surveillance state, should we concern ourselves with surveillance adoption, asset prices, or appeasing surveillance exchanges? I implore you to read the Cypherpunk Manifesto several times. Nowhere does it concern itself with what the surveillance state thinks- so why do so-called privacy advocates of surveillance-by-default coins concern themselves with what the surveillance state thinks?

• They’ll say, “Privacy is a burden on many businesses, they should have choice”. Again… it sounds really reasonable in theory but it’s a way to move the goal post. Privacy coins have one job: protect all transactions from surveillance. If a business doesn’t have the choice to choose privacy, they’ll choose one of 22,000+ surveillance coins and among them they might choose your surveillance-by-default coin with optional privacy… but never enable the privacy features (which already happens with exchanges) exposing their customers to potential surveillance. So again… what’s so special about your coin if no one uses the privacy feature?

They’ll say a lot of things that don’t make any sense when you begin to pick apart their arguments for why a surveillance-by-default cryptocurrency is a “privacy” coin. But none of it holds up to any sort of scrutiny. Not one.

One particular project which has a history of calling their surveillance-by-default coin a “privacy coin” is Zcash. There are others but none so loud as Zcash. I’m not hating on it… I’m simply calling it as it is.

The Zcash “Privacy Coin” Deception

I’m normally content to highlight the duplicity of btc’s mainstream narratives while generally avoiding involvement elsewhere. When it comes to the Zcash, however, the more I study the coin itself and the more I look at its community and corporate narratives… the more comfortable I am in joining the fray.

Zcash is a perfect example of the Reality Distortion Field. I’m hard-pressed to think of any other community, aside from bitcoin core, which peddles demonstrably false narratives about itself.

Zcash is a surveillance-by-default coin. Meaning, like bitcoin, when you make transactions the entire world can see them. Zcash also has a feature called shielded addresses which make transactions private- but it’s an optional feature that isn’t supported by many businesses or exchanges. Optionality… wait-

Let me step back…

Can something that’s optional really be private?

No- not even a little. Now that we have enough accumulated onchain Zcash data we can see people just aren’t using its optional privacy features. As of Oct 2025, roughly 6% of all transactions are private. That means 94% of transactions are completely open to the world for surveillance. That’s what surveillance-by-default looks like. People just aren’t choosing privacy… they’re choosing surveillance when given the choice… making the claim that Zcash is a privacy coin a complete lie.

Think about this: If the average user is choosing surveillance… then there’s nothing special differentiating it from any other surveillance coin. There’s nothing special about Zcash if it’s just like all the rest.

Zcashers would argue, “well, at least they have a choice”. Cool… then how would your parents or other normies feel if the banks made their bank account “transparent to the world”-by-default with optional privacy? Most likely, they would call that reckless and a violation of your privacy.

Imagine when you sign up for an email account that you have to decide for each and every email whether or not it’s going to be private to the world- the public ones can be read by everyone. 🤣 Even though you and I know differently, to normies there’s an expectation of privacy with an email account. That’s exactly what coins like Zcash are peddling. Why should the privacy expectation be different for their coin, but not for your email?

As absurd as that is… that’s the reality with surveillance-by-default coins with “optional” privacy features.

Supporters of Zcash will then defend this by saying it’s important to be compliant with government and laws… the same government and laws which actively surveil you.

“Zcash must be compliant because the government surveils Zcash must be compliant because the government surveils Zcash must be compliant because the government surveils…”

To them, it’s not a moral dilemma, it’s often a financial one. If a coin is rejected by an exchange, they fear the price would drop. Anyone who’s in it for the privacy doesn’t care about the price- the privacy is far more valuable than the price of the coin. That’s why many actual privacy advocates don’t touch bitcoin, no matter how much the price rises- it’s just not worth the risk of exposure.

All these narratives the Zcasher’s promote generally have little bearing on the actual use case of a privacy coin. Which is what makes their narratives so suspicious. Why would you call it a privacy coin when almost no one uses the feature?

If you’re not convinced that something’s fishy… visit their website for yourself. They promote it like it’s a privacy coin. Below is a copy/pasta of the text on the Zcash homepage (grabbed on 11/17/2025):

• Zcash is encrypted electronic cash.
• The first cryptocurrency to develop zero-knowledge encryption for private peer-to-peer payments.
• Zcash is available in trusted digital wallets and listed on high-quality exchanges around the world, making it the best option for private everyday payments and long-term savings.
• Private: Zcash employs end-to-end encryption to protect your right to privacy.

If you were completely new to the crypto space, and only read the homepage, you’d think it was private-by-default. Nowhere on that homepage do they highlight the fact that the most used part of Zcash are their surveillance addresses. I’m not saying it’s necessarily malicious… I’m saying that’s intentional marketing. 👀

Here’s the reality of using surveillance-by-default coins like Zcash. If you want privacy, you have to ONLY use those privacy features forever. Meaning, if you want to send money to someone who only uses surveillance addresses, you have to reveal yourself to do it- defeating the point of having privacy features to begin with! Many surveillance-by-default coin holders like Zcashers hop from visible transactions to invisible and back again… what actual sense does that make? That doesn’t hide anything! They could have the best privacy technology but it’s completely meaningless the moment you expose yourself to an immutable ledger.

So why… why would the Zcash community call it a privacy coin… if it’s not actually a privacy coin?

Honestly, I think it goes back to its roots and it’s not as complicated as it seems. This is from what I’ve managed to piece together from different sources…

The founders/creators wanted a coin that could comply with government as a way to survive- they thought if it was private-by-default, all the exchanges would instantly reject it (which didn’t happen for actual privacy coins… not until later). It seems there was some discussion to make it a full on privacy coin. But they way they figured… cozying up to the parasite class might look more favorable to the government overlords than going all in on protecting people’s right to financial privacy. They promoted the privacy tech as something special, but optional, as a way to distinguish itself from all other surveillance-by-default coins (but we know better now, don’t we?).

I don’t necessarily think its surveillance-by-default inception was necessarily malicious, although I’m beginning to think its current narrative is.

We can’t be naive though… it’s ignorant to call Zcash a privacy coin since from its very conception, it was designed to bend over for government overreach.

If, one day, they get rid of optionality, I’ll be right there supporting them!

If you’re looking for a coin with Zcash’s privacy tech but in an actual privacy coin… checkout Pirate Chain. There are only a handful of actual privacy coins out there like Monero, Zano, Beam, Grin, and Firo*. The rest claim to be privacy coins… but… well you know…

*I’m a bit ambivalent on Firo. They’ve got a lot things going right even though it’s not technically private-by-default. They’re building wallets to make private transactions default but the one thing they haven’t done, or won’t do (I’m not sure)… is make a roadmap where it’s eventually private-by-default.

Call Them What They Are: Surveillance-By-Default

I don’t hate Zcash. I don’t actually hate any cryptocurrency, bitcoin core included. They’re just different blockchains that exist. People are free to choose whatever they want for whatever reason. There’s nothing wrong with that. In fact, Zcash works as intended… as a currency. So if you think it works for you and you don’t have a problem with surveillance-by-default… more power to you!

What I’m not a fan of are false narratives. So I’m never going to call a surveillance-by-default coin a privacy coin because that’s not what it is.

I’ve dedicated a lot of time on Aquarian Metals to dispel myths about money in order to help you make the best possible financial decisions you can make. If you value privacy, then a surveillance-by-default coin isn’t what you want. If you value investments more than privacy, then you’ll probably touch a coin like Zcash so as long as you’re invested and then move on to the next investment with little thought of its surveillance properties. It doesn’t matter to me what you choose… just be clear about why you’re doing what do you.

I’ve talked about several legitimate privacy coins in previous articles and on social media and think you should check them out for yourself!

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