The privacy coin boom taking place in 2025 is no coincidence.
Key industry stakeholders have time and again pushed back strongly against rules that leave no breathing space for crypto. The latest to have his say is Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin.
What’s happening?
Buterin has strong opinions against the European Union’s Digital Services Act (DSA). In a recent X post, the Ethereum co-founder warned that the law risks creating a digital environment where there is “no space” for controversial ideas or products to exist at all.
“I hope European govs do not go this way, and instead take a Pirate Party approach of user empowerment.”
While the DSA aims to make online platforms safer and more accountable, Buterin argued that this philosophy is flawed. He believes the problem isn’t that unpopular or extreme ideas exist, but that algorithms often amplify them at scale. Trying to erase such ideas entirely, he said, risks encouraging excessive surveillance and enforcement.
“There is a real opportunity to reaffirm freedom of speech in a unique and different way, that emphasizes pluralism and pushes against unbalanced attempts to manipulate the discourse…”
Privacy coins take the lead
Source: Artemis
This control and freedom discord is starting to impact the numbers. While most crypto sectors have struggled this year, privacy coins are moving in the opposite direction.
In fact, data from Artemis revealed that they are the best-performing sector YTD, far outperforming everything else.
Source: TradingView
While Bitcoin [BTC] remains the market’s anchor, its performance this cycle has been relatively restrained.
Over the same period that Bitcoin has struggled to push higher, Zcash [ZEC] has surged by more than 700%. Monero [XMR] has held its ground with far less downside too.
Source: Coinmarketcap
Trading activity is rising as well, with privacy coins climbing the rankings by volume and market cap. As regulations increase, capital is rotating towards assets built to preserve the holder’s autonomy.