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Ammous Questions the Role of Privacy in Modern Money
Bitcoin advocate and author of The Bitcoin Standard, Saifedean Ammous, has reignited a long-standing debate within the crypto community by questioning the importance of privacy as a core feature of money. Speaking in an exclusive interview with Cointelegraph, Ammous framed the issue as a competition between two demands: monetary integrity and transactional privacy.
“How much demand is there for money that does not get debased versus how much demand is there for money that allows you to maintain your privacy?” he asked.
Ammous argued that monetary soundness — resistance to debasement — remains a stronger driver of value than privacy. His comments quickly set off a wave of reactions among Bitcoiners, privacy advocates, and Zcash supporters.
Criticism of Zcash and Trusted Setup Concerns
During the interview, Ammous sharply criticized Zcash, calling it a “shitcoin” and expressing skepticism toward its trusted setup ceremony conducted in 2016. The ceremony generated key cryptographic parameters enabling private, shielded transactions.
“The whole thing is built on a trusted setup, where you have to trust a bunch of people who started the whole thing. I’m not in any mood to get into these kind of stupid games,” he said.
Although he admitted that he is not deeply familiar with the technical specifics of Zcash, Ammous questioned whether privacy features could undermine auditability.
“As I understand, the anonymity benefits come at the expense of the auditability benefits.”
Zcash enables both shielded and transparent transactions, and despite concerns raised by Ammous, several blockchain explorers allow public verification of both pools. Its privacy capabilities rely on zero-knowledge proofs, which validate transactions without exposing details such as the sender, receiver, or amount.
Industry Voices Respond: ‘False Dichotomy’ or Necessary Debate?
Ammous’ remarks sparked a lively discussion across X (formerly Twitter), where leading figures challenged the idea that privacy and monetary integrity must be mutually exclusive.
Helius co-founder Mert Mumtaz called Ammous’ framing misleading:
“You should have money that is not debased and is private. That’s Zcash. Further, you just can’t have money that’s free from the state unless it’s private. If it can be seen, it can be seized.”
Digital Currency Group founder Barry Silbert echoed the sentiment, noting that privacy historically mattered to Bitcoin’s earliest adopters:
“I’m old enough to remember when all hardcore Bitcoiners cared about privacy. Fortunately, many still do.”
Zcash co-founder Zooko Wilcox also weighed in, highlighting instances where Bitcoin’s transparency enabled governmental tracking — including the Canadian government’s identification of addresses associated with striking truckers.
Blockchain Privacy: A Moving Target
Despite his critique of Zcash, Ammous acknowledged that blockchain privacy technology continues to evolve. He suggested that Bitcoin’s privacy limitations may be mitigated through second-layer solutions rather than on-chain changes.
“On the issue of privacy, it’s interesting how it’ll evolve. Onchain privacy is very difficult and continues to get more difficult… People can get the privacy they want on second layers, and I don’t think it compromises it.”
For Ammous, the defining characteristic of money is not privacy but its resistance to debasement — an economic principle he argues affects global markets far more dramatically.
“People would rather have hard money that is not private, over easy money that is private. The narrative that people want privacy in their money is massively overblown to produce marketing for shitcoins.”
He added that money is “by its nature, an anti-private technology”, noting that every exchange creates a trail of information in today’s digital environments.
Zcash Resurgence at the End of 2025
While the debate intensifies, Zcash has experienced renewed interest. By late 2025, the privacy coin had surged back into mainstream attention, climbing to the top of Coinbase’s most-searched assets list. Its market capitalization briefly exceeded $10 billion after a stunning 10× price increase in recent months.
Whether the resurgence strengthens arguments for privacy-centric cryptocurrencies or reinforces Ammous’ belief in the dominance of “hard money” remains an unsettled question. But the clash of ideas — between transparency and privacy, auditability and anonymity — is once again at the center of crypto’s most fundamental philosophical divide.
