Zcash in 2025: Technology, Privacy Use Cases and Long-Term Investment Outlook

Introduction and Context

Zcash (ZEC) entered 2025 as a long-lived but largely sidelined privacy coin, overshadowed by both smart contract platforms and by Monero within the privacy niche. By late 2025, that picture looks very different.

Since October 2025, ZEC has gained more than 900%, with market capitalization around $6.5 billion and Zcash overtaking Monero as the leading privacy coin by value. Unlike the speculative spikes of 2017–2021, this move has coincided with:

• A major shift in on-chain behavior: shielded supply rising from roughly 11% to about 30% of total ZEC in 2025.
• Significant protocol and UX upgrades: Halo 2, the Orchard pool, unified addresses, and the Zashi reference wallet.
• Cross-chain integrations that make privacy accessible from other ecosystems.
• A clear rise in institutional interest, including a Grayscale spot ETF filing and strategic allocations from specialized firms.

At the same time, Zcash now sits squarely in regulators’ sights, facing an EU ban on privacy coins on centralized exchanges from 2027 and proposed US reporting rules aimed at privacy-preserving assets.

This article looks at Zcash’s technology, on-chain metrics, privacy use cases, regulatory and competitive landscape, and long-term investment profile as of late 2025, using only published research and data.

1. Fundamental Positioning: What Zcash Is Trying to Be

Zcash is better framed not simply as a “privacy coin” but as a privacy-preserving monetary and infrastructure layer designed to coexist with regulation rather than reject it outright.

Core pillars:

• Digital cash with strong privacy
  Zero-knowledge proofs hide sender, receiver, and amount while preserving transaction validity.

• Optional privacy, not mandatory anonymity
  Zcash supports both transparent and shielded transactions and offers viewing keys for selective disclosure.

• Interoperable privacy layer
  Cross-chain integrations (e.g., NEAR, Avalanche) aim to make Zcash the privacy rail for activity across ecosystems, not just a standalone asset.

• Governance and sustainability
  Updated funding and governance mechanisms are meant to support development across multiple halvings.

The bet is that auditable, opt-in privacy is more acceptable to regulators and institutions than fully opaque systems, while still giving individuals strong protection.

2. Technology Evolution: From zk-SNARKs to Halo 2 and Unified Addresses

2.1 Core Cryptography: zk-SNARKs

Zcash’s original breakthrough was production use of zk-SNARKs (zero-knowledge succinct non-interactive arguments of knowledge), enabling:

• Verification that transactions are valid (no double-spend, correct balances),
• Without revealing sender, receiver, or amount on-chain.

This underpins Zcash’s “shielded pool,” where transactions are private yet verifiable.

Early implementations, however, had notable drawbacks:

• Trusted setup
  A parameter-generation ceremony created a theoretical inflation risk if compromised.

• Heavy computation and poor UX
  Proof creation and verification were resource-intensive, leading to slow transactions and weak mobile usability.

2.2 Halo 2 and the Orchard Pool

The arrival of the Halo 2 proving system and the Orchard shielded pool (deployed in 2022 and maturing through 2025) was a turning point.

Key impacts:

• No trusted setup
  Halo 2 removes the need for a trusted setup ceremony, closing a major theoretical vulnerability and reputational overhang.

• Performance
  Orchard transactions using Halo 2 can complete in under one second, compared to roughly 70–90 seconds in the Sprout era.

• Migration to modern privacy
  As of late 2025, about 4 million ZEC out of roughly 4.9 million shielded coins are in Orchard, showing users are actively moving to the newest pool rather than remaining in legacy ones.

Zcash has shifted from early-stage, academic-feeling cryptography to production-grade privacy with consumer-ready performance.

2.3 Unified Addresses and the Zashi Wallet

For years, Zcash’s UX kept its privacy features underused:

• Users had to pick between transparent (t-addresses) and shielded (z-addresses).
• Many wallets and exchanges only supported t-addresses.
• Effective privacy required a level of knowledge most users didn’t have.

Two upgrades changed this:

• Unified addresses (UAs)
• The Zashi reference wallet (launched in 2024, significantly improved in 2025)

Unified addresses:

• Combine multiple address types (transparent and shielded) behind a single public address.
• Let wallets automatically choose the right pool (transparent or shielded) based on context and settings.
• Remove the need for users to understand underlying address formats.

Zashi adds:

• Automatic address rotation
  A fresh address after each receipt improves default privacy.

• Hardware wallet integration (e.g., Keystone)
  Addresses security and key management concerns.

• Tight cross-chain integration (e.g., NEAR Intents)
  Makes it simpler to acquire and use shielded ZEC.

The result: privacy becomes the default easy path, not an expert-only feature buried in settings.

2.4 Protocol Efficiency and Governance Upgrades

Beyond cryptography and UX, the Electric Coin Company (ECC) and the wider ecosystem have pushed on efficiency and governance.

• Proof aggregation and smaller transactions

  • Around a 40% reduction in overhead.
  • Faster confirmations and lower fees, especially useful on mobile and in low-bandwidth settings.

• Network Upgrade NU6.1 (November 2025)

  • Introduced a new long-term funding model.
  • Split funding as:
    • 8% of block rewards to Zcash Community Grants.
    • 12% to a coinholder-controlled fund.
  • Extended funding through the third halving.
  • Embedded token-holder governance, backed by Zcash Community Advisory Panel (ZCAP) polling.

These changes tackle two persistent questions:

1. How development gets funded over the long term.
2. How influence shifts from founders and core companies toward community and token holders.

2.5 The 2025 Halving

In November 2025, Zcash’s block reward fell from 6.25 ZEC to 3.125 ZEC, dropping daily issuance below 2,000 ZEC.

This halving coincided with:

• NU6.1’s funding and governance changes,
• Mature Halo 2 / Orchard usage,
• Zashi adoption,
• And rising institutional interest.

The combination of supply reduction and visible fundamental upgrades strengthened the case that Zcash is entering a new structural phase rather than replaying old boom-bust cycles.

3. Cross-Chain Integration: Zcash as a Privacy Layer for Web3

In 2025, Zcash began moving from an isolated L1 to a privacy hub for cross-chain activity.

3.1 NEAR Intents Integration

Integration with NEAR Protocol’s Intents system is particularly important. It enables users to trade ZEC against:

• Bitcoin
• Ethereum
• XRP
• Solana
• And other major assets

without custodial intermediaries, with zero-fee transactions initially to drive adoption.

Mechanics and privacy design:

• Users move ZEC from Orchard into a transparent address controlled by NEAR smart contracts.
• NEAR Intents executes cross-chain swap logic.
• Observers see the swap but have difficulty linking ultimate destinations and counterparties, thanks to:
  • Shielded entry/exit on Zcash, and
  • Abstracted swap execution on NEAR.
• After the swap, users can move ZEC back into the shielded pool, restoring full privacy.

This closes a long-standing gap: acquiring and using privacy assets from transparent ecosystems without complex exchange hops or custodial risk.

3.2 Avalanche RedBridge and ZavaX

Zcash is also integrating with the Avalanche ecosystem via RedBridge:

• A decentralized bridge between Zcash and Avalanche.
• Uses the ZavaX oracle system to retain privacy while enabling interoperability.
• Scheduled for mainnet activation in December 2025.

Strategic effects:

• Users and institutions gain access to Avalanche’s high-throughput, low-fee DeFi.
• Zcash remains the private store and transfer rail beneath those activities.
• ZEC is positioned as a privacy-preserving value rail that plugs into high-performance DeFi environments.

3.3 Zcash as a Modular Privacy Component

NEAR Intents and Avalanche RedBridge reflect a broader shift:

• Zcash is evolving from a self-contained L1 into a modular privacy component:
  • A base layer for private value storage and transfer.
  • With bridges and intents systems that project those guarantees across chains.

This differs both from privacy coins that stay isolated and from L2 privacy tools that rely entirely on a single L1’s security and governance.

4. On-Chain Metrics and Ecosystem Activity

4.1 Shielded Supply Growth

The share of ZEC held in shielded addresses is one of the clearest indicators of real privacy adoption.

By late 2025:

• About 4.9 million ZEC sit in shielded addresses.
• That’s roughly 30% of total supply, up from about 11% at the start of 2025.
• Around 4 million ZEC of that are in the Orchard pool.

Why this matters:

• A higher shielded share means a larger anonymity set.
• Each shielded transaction becomes harder to trace, assuming decent operational practices.
• Migration toward Orchard shows users updating their privacy posture rather than leaving coins in old pools.

4.2 Transaction Patterns and Volume

On-chain data in recent weeks show:

• Total ZEC transaction volume up more than 10x.
• Shielded transactions increasing as a share of that volume.
• Fully shielded (z-to-z) transfers still in the minority, but:
  • Strong growth in partially shielded flows (t-to-z and z-to-t).

Interpretation:

• Better UX (Zashi, unified addresses) and cross-chain access are changing behavior, not just price.
• Partially shielded flows often represent:
  • Moving funds into shielded pools for storage, or
  • Exiting for exchange, spending, or cross-chain usage.
• As more flows become end-to-end shielded over time, Zcash’s usefulness as digital cash, and the strength of its privacy set, both improve.

4.3 Developer and User Activity

Ecosystem metrics reported in 2025 include:

• Around 10,000 daily active users (DAU).
• Over 1,000 monthly GitHub commits, putting Zcash among more active crypto projects.
• In the last 90 days:
  • Token holder engagement up ~25.9%.
  • Developer activity up ~47.2%.
  • New wallet creation up ~150.2%.
• More than 100 active decentralized applications.

This points to a broad-based pickup across:

• Users,
• Developers,
• And token holders.

Zcash now looks less like a single protocol plus a few wallets and more like a small but growing ecosystem.

5. Market Structure and Institutional Adoption

5.1 Price Performance and Re-Rating

From late September to early December 2025:

• ZEC rose from roughly $70 to over $400.
• That’s a 900%+ gain since October 2025.
• Market cap reached about $6.5 billion.
• Zcash overtook Monero as the largest privacy coin by market value.

Analyst expectations (where reported):

• Median December 2025 targets in the $300–$400 range.
• Some models envision trading between $328–$544 over the year.

These are projections, not guarantees, but they reflect a view that:

• Zcash is undergoing a structural re-rating, supported by:
  • Protocol upgrades,
  • Better UX,
  • Cross-chain connectivity,
  • And emerging institutional products.

5.2 Grayscale and the ETF Narrative

A key institutional milestone:

• Grayscale filed for the first U.S. spot Zcash ETF in late November 2025.

Current trust details:

• The Grayscale Zcash Trust holds around 394,000 ZEC (~2.4% of circulating supply).
• Assets under management are about $205.7 million.
• Custody is handled by Coinbase, with Bank of New York Mellon as administrator.

Implications:

• If approved, a spot ZEC ETF would:
  • Offer a regulated, exchange-traded vehicle for ZEC exposure.
  • Lower barriers for traditional investors.
• The filing itself signals Grayscale’s view that:
  • Optional transparency and compliance tools give Zcash a better chance with the SEC,
  • And that hybrid privacy models are more viable than fully opaque ones.

Approval is uncertain and faces headwinds, but the move is a clear institutional validation signal.

5.3 Strategic Allocations and “Privacy Insurance”

Several institutional and quasi-institutional actors have made explicit Zcash bets:

• Reliance Global Group

  • Concentrated its entire crypto portfolio in ZEC.
  • Described Zcash as “privacy insurance” against Bitcoin’s transparency and broader financial surveillance.

• Cypherpunk Technologies

  • Rebranded as a privacy-focused investment vehicle.
  • Built meaningful ZEC positions as part of that strategy.

• Family offices and high-net-worth investors

  • Entities like Maelstrom (associated with Arthur Hayes) have publicly highlighted Zcash.
  • Hayes has framed ZEC as a “clean privacy bet” with highly bullish multi-year upside (with price targets well above current levels, explicitly speculative).

• Custody and legal structures

  • Use of Wyoming LLCs and custodians such as Anchorage Digital to hold ZEC within compliant, institution-friendly frameworks.

These moves show Zcash becoming a deliberate portfolio component for investors who:

• Expect financial privacy to matter more over time, and
• Prefer Zcash’s regulatory profile to fully anonymous alternatives.

6. Privacy Use Cases: From Individuals to Institutions

6.1 Digital Cash in High-Surveillance Environments

Zcash’s most direct role is as digital cash with privacy.

Demand is strongest where:

• Banking is heavily surveilled or politicized.
• Capital controls and arbitrary account freezes are a risk.
• Inflation or currency instability drives interest in alternative stores of value.

Conceptual examples include:

• Freelancers and remote workers in restrictive regimes who:
  • Get paid in crypto,
  • Want to avoid exposing their full financial history to local banks or authorities.
• Individuals facing political persecution or discrimination who:
  • Need to move funds or support causes without revealing identities to hostile actors.

Accurate usage metrics are hard to obtain for obvious reasons. Still, the growing shielded supply, rising share of shielded transactions, and parallels with other privacy coins in similar contexts support the view that Zcash is used in practice, not just traded.

6.2 Auditable Privacy for Regulated Entities

Zcash’s optional privacy and viewing keys matter for regulated users:

• Institutions can:
  • Transact via shielded addresses,
  • Disclose details to auditors, regulators, or counterparties when required.

This “auditable privacy” aligns with thinking around:

• CBDCs,
• Regulated stablecoins,
• Corporate treasury and B2B payments.

By contrast:

• Systems like Monero, with no selective transparency, are far harder to integrate into regulated pipelines.

Zcash aims for a middle path:

• Strong privacy at the protocol level,
• With tools that allow compliance where necessary.

6.3 Prospective DeFi and Zcash Shielded Assets (ZSAs)

The roadmap includes Zcash Shielded Assets (ZSAs), outlined in proposals like ZIP 226 and ZIP 227.

ZSAs would enable:

• Issuance of new asset types on Zcash’s shielded layer, including:
  • Stablecoins,
  • Governance tokens,
  • Tokenized prescriptions or other sensitive data-linked assets.

Potential outcomes:

• Private DeFi
  Lending, borrowing, and trading with shielded balances and flows, addressing the full transparency of most Ethereum-style DeFi.

• Private stablecoins
  Holding and transferring fiat-pegged assets without exposing balances publicly.

• Sector-specific applications
  Use cases where confidentiality is critical, such as healthcare, payroll, and segments of supply-chain finance.

As of late 2025, ZSAs are still in development, so this remains a forward-looking area, but the direction is clear: Zcash is aiming to become a platform for private financial instruments, not just a single asset.

7. Competitive Landscape: Zcash vs. Alternatives

Zcash faces competition from:

• Other privacy coins, and
• Privacy tools on general-purpose chains.

7.1 Zcash vs. Monero

Monero (XMR) is Zcash’s closest rival among privacy coins.

Key contrasts:

Implications:

• Zcash’s advantage
  Better fit for regulated settings and more likely to appear in institutional products (ETFs, custodial services).

• Monero’s advantage
  Stronger default privacy guarantees and a user base that prioritizes maximal anonymity.

Regulatory pressure is likely harsher on fully anonymous systems. Zcash’s hybrid model may help it remain available in markets where Monero faces delistings or outright bans.

7.2 Privacy on Smart-Contract Platforms

Zcash also competes with privacy layers on Ethereum, Solana, and other platforms, including:

• zk-rollups and privacy L2s
  Private transactions or contracts atop transparent L1s.

• Mixers and coinjoin-style tools
  Obfuscation solutions that keep the base asset (e.g., Bitcoin) unchanged.

Differences:

• Zcash

  • Provides L1-native privacy with its own consensus and monetary policy.
  • Can extend shielded states across chains via bridges and intents.

• L2 privacy

  • Inherits security and censorship characteristics from the base L1.
  • Is often more exposed to contract- or operator-specific enforcement actions.

Zcash’s challenge is to stay relevant as general-purpose chains upgrade their privacy tools. Its opportunity is to be:

• The most battle-tested, cryptographically mature L1 privacy system, and
• A neutral privacy hub serving multiple ecosystems.

8. Regulatory and Policy Risks

Regulation is arguably the most important external driver for Zcash’s long-term outlook.

8.1 EU Privacy Coin Ban (2027)

The European Union has passed legislation to:

• Ban privacy coin listings on centralized exchanges from 2027.

For Zcash, that implies:

• Loss of centralized exchange access across a major economic bloc.
• Reduced liquidity and fewer fiat on-ramps/off-ramps for EU users.
• Potential chilling effects on institutions with EU exposure.

Mitigating factors may include:

• Zcash’s optional transparency and viewing keys.
• Non-custodial access (DEXs, bridges).
• The chance that regulators differentiate between fully anonymous and auditable privacy.

Even so, the baseline impact is negative: EU policy is a significant headwind.

8.2 US FinCEN Proposals

In the US, FinCEN has proposed rules that would:

• Mandate reporting of privacy coin transactions above specific thresholds (e.g., $500–$1,000) to combat illicit finance.

For Zcash, that would:

• Raise friction for legitimate users.
• Discourage merchants and payment processors from integrating ZEC.
• Push some activity into peer-to-peer or non-compliant channels, which might attract further scrutiny.

Zcash’s selective disclosure tools could still support:

• Compliant institutional usage,
• Logged and reported large-value transactions,
• Audits via viewing keys.

8.3 Walking the Privacy–Compliance Tightrope

Zcash operates on a narrow ridge:

• Push too far toward maximal privacy and risk being treated like fully anonymous systems.
• Lean too far toward compliance and risk losing the users who value censorship resistance.

So far, the project has:

• Emphasized user-controlled privacy with optional transparency.
• Presented viewing keys as a feature for compliance, not a backdoor.
• Engaged institutions and regulators through ETF filings, custody partnerships, and public positioning.

The unresolved question is whether regulators will:

• Accept this compromise model, or
• Move toward broad restrictions on privacy technology as a whole.

9. Additional Long-Term Technical Risks

9.1 Quantum Computing

Like most public-key cryptography, Zcash’s primitives face a long-term quantum computing risk.

If large-scale quantum computers become practical, they could:

• Break key cryptographic assumptions,
• Undermine both privacy and security.

For Zcash, this raises questions about:

• Quantum-resistant upgrades, and
• How to migrate shielded pools and addresses while preserving privacy.

The research notes quantum risk but does not detail concrete mitigation plans. This is an area where:

• Clear roadmaps and proofs-of-concept would be valuable, and
• Users and investors need to track ECC and community discussions closely.

9.2 Complexity and Implementation Risk

Zcash’s stack is inherently complex:

• zk-SNARKs and Halo 2,
• Multiple shielded pools (Sprout, Sapling, Orchard),
• Bridges and intents-based integrations.

That complexity increases:

• Security risk
  More code and integration points mean more chances for bugs or vulnerabilities.

• User risk
  More room for misunderstanding addresses, viewing keys, and privacy guarantees.

While no catastrophic failures are cited in the research, the risk of:

• Implementation bugs,
• Bridge exploits,
• Or cryptographic flaws,

remains material over the long run.

10. Scenario Analysis: Bull, Base, and Bear Paths

Zcash’s future will depend on how technology, adoption, and regulation interact. The following scenarios are qualitative and exclude price targets.

10.1 Scenario Overview Table

10.2 Bull Case: Zcash as the Default Privacy Rail

In the bull case:

• Technology and UX

  • Zashi and unified addresses see broad adoption.
  • Shielded supply climbs well past 50%.
  • ZSAs launch successfully, enabling:
    • Private stablecoins,
    • Private governance tokens,
    • Core private DeFi.
  • Cross-chain integrations (NEAR, Avalanche, others) make Zcash the default privacy layer for multi-chain users.

• Adoption

  • Usage deepens in:
    • High-surveillance and high-inflation markets,
    • Corporate treasury and B2B payments that require confidentiality.
  • The dApp ecosystem grows beyond 100+ apps into a dense private finance stack.

• Regulation

  • Regulators distinguish between fully anonymous systems and auditable privacy.
  • The US approves a spot ZEC ETF.
  • EU restrictions are partially offset by non-custodial access, carve-outs, or future policy adjustments.

• Market structure

  • ZEC becomes a standard privacy allocation in crypto portfolios.
  • Institutional AUM in ZEC products rises sharply.
  • Liquidity deepens and long-term holders increasingly set the float.

Zcash would then be the dominant global privacy asset and infrastructure layer, with support from both ideological users and institutions.

10.3 Base Case: A Leading but Contested Privacy Asset

In the base case:

• Technology and UX

  • Improvements continue but without step-change breakthroughs.
  • Shielded share grows steadily but not explosively.
  • ZSAs launch but see targeted, not universal, adoption.
  • Cross-chain integrations are used by privacy-conscious users, but remain niche relative to mainstream DeFi.

• Adoption

  • Zcash stays the preferred option for users who actively prioritize privacy.
  • Usage grows in high-risk jurisdictions and in verticals like freelance work and remote payments.
  • Most users still live on transparent L1s and L2s.

• Regulation

  • EU bans take full effect and constrain centralized exchange access.
  • US and other jurisdictions impose reporting rules without outright prohibition.
  • Zcash survives via:
    • Optional transparency,
    • Compliant institutional channels,
    • Greater reliance on decentralized access in restrictive regions.

• Market structure

  • ZEC remains the largest privacy coin by market cap.
  • Institutional interest is present but modest.
  • Zcash is a specialist asset rather than a top-tier macro asset.

Here, Zcash is successful but shares the stage with other major crypto assets and privacy tools.

10.4 Bear Case: Regulatory Clampdown and Technological Displacement

In the bear case:

• Technology and UX

  • ZSAs are delayed or underused.
  • Competing ecosystems (e.g., Ethereum L2s) ship privacy that is:
    • Easier to access,
    • Better integrated with DeFi,
    • More actively supported.
  • Zcash is seen as complex and dated relative to newer options.

• Adoption

  • Shielded usage plateaus or falls.
  • Developers and users migrate to platforms with bigger liquidity pools and simpler tooling.

• Regulation

  • EU-style bans widen to other regions.
  • Major exchanges delist ZEC across key markets.
  • Strict reporting and KYC rules make privacy coins unattractive for most compliant users.

• Market structure

  • Liquidity fragments across smaller or non-compliant venues.
  • Institutional interest disappears; ETF efforts stall or fail.
  • ZEC becomes a thinly traded niche asset used by a shrinking community of privacy maximalists.

Zcash would persist, but with much lower economic and strategic relevance.

11. Key Risks and Negative Scenarios

Main risk categories:

1. Regulatory risk

   • EU privacy coin bans and similar moves elsewhere.
   • US FinCEN reporting rules.
   • Potential delistings and loss of fiat on-ramps.

2. Technological risk

   • Complexity of zk-SNARKs, Halo 2, and bridges.
   • Possible vulnerabilities in Orchard or cross-chain infrastructure.
   • Long-term quantum computing threats.

3. Competitive risk

   • Monero and other privacy coins retaining strong niches.
   • L2 privacy solutions on Ethereum, Solana, and others with better composability and access.
   • New privacy paradigms that outperform Zcash’s model.

4. Adoption risk

   • ZSAs failing to gain real traction.
   • Dominance of speculative use over real-world payments and savings.
   • Fragmented or stagnant UX across wallets and services.

5. Governance and funding risk

   • Misalignment among ECC, Zcash Foundation, and the community.
   • Ineffective use of new funding mechanisms.
   • Governance decisions that erode trust or drive contributors away.

Any of these, alone or in combination, could materially alter Zcash’s long-term path.

Conclusion: Zcash at an Inflection Point

By late 2025, Zcash has shifted from a technically impressive but underused privacy coin to a credible, institutionally recognized privacy infrastructure layer. It now features:

• A shielded share of supply up from ~11% to ~30% within 2025.
• Modern cryptography (Halo 2) that removes trusted setup concerns and enables near-instant private transactions.
• A much improved UX via unified addresses and the Zashi wallet, making privacy the default rather than an expert-only option.
• Growing cross-chain connectivity that turns ZEC into a modular privacy component usable across multiple ecosystems.
• Strengthening institutional signals, including a live Grayscale spot ETF filing and visible allocations from privacy-focused investors.

Zcash’s trajectory from here hinges on three forces:

1. Technological execution
   Delivery of Zcash Shielded Assets, continued Orchard improvements, performance tuning, and secure cross-chain extensions will determine whether Zcash matures into a general-purpose private asset layer or plateaus as a niche currency.

2. Regulatory treatment and market access
   How regulators distinguish between fully anonymous systems and auditable privacy architectures will drive centralized exchange access, institutional product development, and custody solutions. Optional transparency gives Zcash a more defensible position than many peers, but outcomes remain uncertain.

3. Depth of adoption and ecosystem resilience
   Sustained growth in shielded activity, meaningful dApp usage, robust integrations with high-throughput chains, and clear real-world use in high-surveillance or unstable environments will determine whether ZEC becomes a durable component of the global crypto economy.

Zcash enters this phase with stronger fundamentals, clearer positioning, and more visible momentum than it had after earlier market cycles. Whether this marks the start of a long-term structural re-rating or proves to be a temporary upswing will depend on continued technical delivery, regulatory survivability, and demonstrable, large-scale privacy utility.