The story of privacy coins has entered the third act.

Looking back over the past decade, this track has gone through three distinctly different phases.

**Act One (2016-2021): Privacy is Anonymous Cash**
Back then, Monero, Zcash, and Dash were the absolute protagonists. The logic of the entire industry was straightforward—"Governments and big corporations can't see my transactions." This was the purest and most extreme era of privacy coins.

**Act Two (2022-2024): The Winter of Privacy**
Layer1 performance wars were in full swing, Meme coins and GameFi caused a frenzy, but privacy projects were ruthlessly marginalized. Not only was there little concern, but they were also labeled as "high risk." The market spotlight had shifted elsewhere.

**Act Three (2025-Present): Privacy Returns, but the Rules Have Changed Completely**
Privacy coins are beginning to re-enter the spotlight, but the driving forces have been turned upside down. The current demand is no longer about "hiding," but about "enabling large institutions to participate with real money."

This is the key turning point.

Institutions' privacy needs are entirely different—they don't require absolute anonymity but instead need "regulated, explainable, auditable, and legally compliant" confidentiality. In other words, privacy has shifted from a consumer tool to a financial infrastructure.

Dusk is almost tailor-made for this new era.

It doesn't pursue extreme levels of privacy (the higher the better), but instead focuses on "the most practical privacy in financial scenarios." It doesn't aim for dark web transaction volume but targets real orders from banks, asset management firms, and regulated exchanges. It also doesn't seek to replace public blockchains but aims to build a "privacy-compliant channel exclusive to institutions" on top of public chains.

Looking at the current progress, the direction is clear: the mainnet has been stable for over 14 months without major security incidents. It has partnered with NPEX to launch Europe's first truly on-chain regulated digital securities secondary market. Citadel's privacy KYC solution has passed compliance reviews from multiple institutions. This is not just a concept; it is being implemented.

Privacy coins haven't disappeared; they've just adopted a new approach. From "I want to be invisible" to "I want compliant privacy," this is the story of the next decade.