Privacy is essential in our daily lives; whether you are making payments, transferring or receiving money, voting in a dao, experimenting with a new app (dApp), ensure you do it without leaving a trace. With that in mind, here are some privacy protocols and projects to keep an eye on, launched and unlaunched 👇 1. @Zcash : the first crypto to develop zero knowledge encryption for private peer-to-peer payments. This is the lead runner of the narrative with the ticker, $ZEC, a fork of bitcoin with 21m finite supply. It is simply referred to as an Encrypted Electronic Cash. 2. @RAILGUN_Project : Used and adopted by Vitalik himself, railgun combines Zk cryptography and smart contract composability. Railgun adopts a shielding mechanism. It doesn't mix transactions like tornado cash, but leverages Zk Snarks to shield users assets in their transactions by using a private anonymous shield address that starts with a Zer-Zk... instead of the 0x-prefix for standard public addresses. 3. @monero : This is a secured, private and untraceable crypto infrastructure that helps to keep its users money confidential and private in their interactions. 4. @OasisProtocol : Popularly known as the Rose Protocol, is a privacy-first Layer 1 blockchain designed to support scalable, confidential computation through a unique layered architecture. It consists of a consensus layer secured by POS validators for transaction finality and security, and a separate compute layer known as the ParaTime layer. The paratime layer hosts parallel runtimes to execute smart contracts in isolated environments optimized for privacy and scalability. 5. @Arcium : This is a protocol that allows AI models to be trained on encrypted data, expanding data diversity for AI development, while preserving data integrity and privacy. For blockchains, Arcium provides a critical layer of confidentiality, ensuring key blockchain apps and usecases across DeFi can operate securely. 6. @aztecnetwork : They are building a private world computer, L2 bringing programmable privacy to Ethereum. Token sale already went live on their platform and looks to have caught the eyes of Ethereum's co-founder, Vitalik. Aztec will become the first shielding protocol on ethereum, featuring the first private rollup using the "PLONK" first universal snark, a purpose-built language for private smart contracts. Another stand-out detail about Aztec is that they are building a community-owned privacy network. 7. @zano_project : Zano is a privacy-focused blockchain with untraceable transactions and a hybrid PoW-PoS consensus for optimal blockchain security, designed to power privacy-first dApps and confidential assets. Recently, @ZebecCards, an AI-based PayFi card, adding ZANO as its 16th chain, making ZANO the first privacy blockchain on Zebec. 8. @SecretNetwork : With secret network, users can deploy encrypted smart contracts, run confidential workloads using the SecretVM, keep data private while logic stays auditable. With their permissioned visibility approach, compliance teams get proofs without surveillance. One of the privacy-proof products powered by secret network is @SilentSwap, a privacy cross-chain aggregator that allows its users to swap silently while safeguarding their privacy. 9. @salvium_io : This is a privacy first L1 that solves crypto's biggest paradox --- Transparency vs Security. Salvium aims to become the bridge between DeFi and regulations, as it is the world first MiCA compliant privacy coin. The protocol keeps users transactions private for everyday use, while providing a cryptographic method to comply with regulated entities, and still protecting users identity. 10. @Houdiniswap : Watched this one since its launch and it's one that truly works and a lot of new privacy initiatives really integrating with them. Houdiniswap achieves privacy by using an advanced dual-exchange system combined in a randomized L1 that acts as a privacy intermediary. This setup ensures that the sender has exclusive knowledge of both the originating wallet address and the recipient's address, while the transaction remains unidentifiable by the receiver or external parties. 11. @masknetwork : This one is for the everyday internet, social media and web users. This is like a browser extension just like chrome, that allows users to access a wide array of web3 services on their favourite social media platforms, from encrypted messages to decentralized profiles. Overall, Mask Network bridges web 2 and web 3 by decentralizing social interactions while preserving user privacy, security, and control over their digital footprint, making it a significant player in the blockchain privacy space. Some notable mentions of projects featuring privacy in their models and acting a middleware OS for privacy for their users are; @dfinity @Mute_swap @idOS_network @brevis_zk @GhostWare0S, @FogSwap_com @loyal_hq @AviciMoney @yo_ur_network @cloakapp_io @UmbraPrivacy @zk_agi @0xMiden @machines_cash PRIVACY isn't just a feature, it's foundation. For privacy focused insights, visit @PrivacyEthereum @web3privacy Also @nikzh has just launched a PRIVACY WATCH tracker for leading privacy cryptos that ranks them by the total shielded supply of assets rather than plain market cap, and i think a lot of privacy focused projects might be integrated on that, so keep watch with See you on my next ISSUE'.