In the fast-moving world of cryptocurrency, privacy is no longer a niche concern—it’s a headline issue. In recent months, privacy technologies have made significant strides, from the unveiling of Railgun’s private multi-signature wallet on Ethereum to the dramatic price surge of Zcash, a leading privacy coin. Both stories reflect a broader shift: as financial surveillance intensifies and digital assets go mainstream, demand for privacy solutions is reaching new heights.
At the center of this movement is the Railgun protocol, a privacy-focused project on Ethereum. Railgun’s developers have just revealed a prototype that many in the crypto industry have been waiting for: a private multi-signature wallet powered by zero-knowledge proof (ZK proof) technology. According to DL News, this breakthrough came just weeks after Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin challenged the community at the Web3Privacy Now meetup in Tokyo in September 2025. Buterin asked, “Why are you not putting more money into privacy protocols?” and highlighted the lack of multi-signature wallets as a key barrier to adoption. He cited two main reasons for the slow progress: the technology is too new and complex, and there’s no support for multi-signature wallets—an industry security standard.
Multi-signature wallets, or multisigs, are a security staple in the $4.3 trillion crypto industry. They work by splitting the private keys needed to authorize transactions among several parties, requiring a majority to sign off before any funds move. This multi-factor authentication is crucial for both individual security and institutional compliance. But integrating multisigs with privacy protocols like Railgun has been a major technical headache. The culprit? Zero-knowledge proofs, a cryptographic method that lets someone prove a statement is true without revealing any other information. ZK proofs are powerful, but notoriously tricky to implement in a way that works seamlessly with existing blockchain systems.
Alan Scott, co-founder of the Railgun Project, told DL News, “It’s been a lot of brain damage to figure out.” The team’s solution draws on Flexible Round-Optimised Schnorr Threshold Signatures (FROST), a method originally designed for Bitcoin. But adapting FROST to Ethereum, with its different accounting system, was no small feat. “Since it’s for Ethereum, it kind of requires some bending, twisting and reshaping,” Scott explained. The result? A wallet that not only requires multiple signatures for security, but also hides which users control the wallet—an unprecedented level of privacy for Ethereum users.
The implications are enormous. On blockchains like Ethereum, transactions are public by default. If someone knows your wallet address, they can see your entire transaction history and current balance. This transparency has led to high-profile thefts, kidnappings, and even murders, as criminals target wealthy crypto holders. For institutions, the public nature of blockchains is a non-starter—privacy is essential for protecting client information and complying with investment bylaws that require multiple people to approve transactions.
Railgun’s achievement is all the more significant because, until now, Ethereum lacked a working private multi-signature wallet. While other blockchains such as Zcash have already built similar solutions, and teams like Ukraine’s Distributed Lab have explored the concept, Railgun is the first to bring it to Ethereum at scale. “We’re not only the first people to do this in the Ethereum ecosystem, we’re kind of like the only people that can really do it,” Scott said.
The next step for Railgun’s contributors is to build a user-friendly interface, so everyday users can create private multisig wallets without having to wrangle complex code. The team plans to demo their wallet at the Devconnect Argentina conference in Buenos Aires next month, a move that could set a new standard for privacy in decentralized finance (DeFi).
Meanwhile, the privacy coin sector is having its own moment in the spotlight. Zcash (ZEC), a cryptocurrency designed for confidential transactions, has surged more than 250% in price over the past month, according to OKX. Trading volume has spiked by over 1,000%, and Zcash’s market capitalization has soared from $700 million to over $1.8 billion, reaching its highest level since April 2022. The catalyst? A potent mix of institutional interest, rising demand for privacy, and technical innovation.
The launch of the Grayscale Zcash Trust (ZCSH) has opened the door for accredited investors to gain exposure to ZEC without directly holding the asset. This institutional backing has boosted confidence in Zcash’s long-term prospects. At the same time, the growing specter of financial surveillance—especially as governments explore central bank digital currencies (CBDCs)—has driven more users to seek out privacy coins. As OKX notes, Zcash’s integration with DeFi platforms like THORSwap has also expanded its utility, allowing for cross-chain swaps and making it more accessible to a wider audience.
What sets Zcash apart is its use of zk-SNARKs (Zero-Knowledge Succinct Non-Interactive Arguments of Knowledge), an advanced cryptographic technology that enables shielded transactions. This means that the sender, recipient, and transaction amount are all hidden from public view, while still allowing the network to verify the transaction’s validity. As privacy coins go, Zcash is often compared to Monero, but its zk-SNARKs offer a more scalable and efficient approach, making it a favorite among privacy advocates.
Zcash’s role in DeFi is expanding rapidly. Its privacy-preserving features are ideal for secure payments, crypto payroll, and cross-border transactions—use cases where confidentiality is not just a luxury, but a necessity. As the world inches closer to widespread financial digitization, privacy coins like Zcash provide a crucial counterbalance to the transparency of CBDCs, helping individuals maintain control over their financial data.
Of course, the rise of privacy coins hasn’t gone unnoticed by regulators. Zcash and its peers face significant scrutiny, with restrictions and delistings in regions such as the European Union and Dubai. In response, the Zcash community is working to address regulatory concerns by offering both transparent and shielded transaction options, and by engaging with lawmakers to promote balanced policies.
Looking ahead, Zcash is preparing for a major technical transition: moving from its current Proof-of-Work (PoW) consensus to Proof-of-Stake (PoS). This change aims to improve scalability, reduce energy consumption, and enhance interoperability with other blockchain networks. The move to PoS is expected to make Zcash more sustainable and secure, while supporting higher transaction volumes—key factors for mainstream adoption.
Prominent voices in the crypto world have thrown their support behind Zcash. Naval Ravikant has called it “insurance against Bitcoin,” highlighting its superior privacy features. Mert Mumtaz has praised its scalability and privacy, noting its advantages over competitors like Monero. And Zcash isn’t alone: other privacy coins such as Monero and Dash have also outperformed the broader crypto market in recent weeks, underscoring a renewed appetite for privacy solutions.
As privacy technology advances and adoption grows, the tension between transparency and confidentiality in the crypto world is only set to intensify. With Railgun’s private multi-signature wallet and Zcash’s ongoing surge, the stage is set for a new era of privacy in digital finance—one where users, institutions, and developers are all fighting for a little more secrecy in a world that’s watching closer than ever.
