2026 Privacy Outlook: 4 Key Predictions

The year 2025 marked significant advancements in on-chain privacy, with Zcash, a pioneering privacy coin, experiencing a substantial surge of over 600%. Major players like Ethereum and Solana also announced initiatives to integrate privacy into their networks. Startups focusing on zero-knowledge proofs and fully homomorphic encryption gained considerable traction. Influencers, including Mert Mumtaz, emphasized the importance of privacy for institutional adoption, as companies typically prefer not to conduct business on public blockchains with fully transparent ledgers. To forecast what's in store for 2026, we consulted with leading figures in the privacy space. Their predictions include: Privacy becoming more practical, with a recognition that absolute privacy and full transparency are not feasible in the real world. Instead, there will be a shift towards making trade-offs that limit privacy in specific contexts to enhance threat resistance. The emergence of private stablecoins as a core component of global payment infrastructure on-chain, driven by the need for confidentiality in commercial relationships and treasury movements. The industrialization of privacy on-chain, with multiple solutions transitioning from testnet to production, despite challenges related to regulatory compliance and consumer-facing wallet support. The normalization of 'threat-resistance' as the standard for on-chain privacy, focusing on pragmatic solutions that balance individual and business privacy needs with the deterrence of malicious activities.