I ve been a strong advocate for privacy because it represents the ultimate contrarian bet against tightening regulations. Zcash has historically led every privacy season, but the narrative is expanding fast. There are now multiple projects building across the entire privacy stack. Here is my updated tier breakdown: S-Tier: ZEC – Bitcoin for privacy. This asset has outperformed nearly everything in the space during privacy cycles. NIL – Blind computing that puts users first. A true paradigm shift. NEAR – One of the most powerful architectures for AI agents right now. Agentic payments, low fees, chain abstraction, and Grayscale is already involved. A-Tier: CC – Institutional-grade privacy chain. Massive regulatory tailwind. AZTEC – The leading privacy-first Layer 2 on Ethereum. OCTRA – Open source core implementation of HFHE with public benchmarks. Pure tech. B-Tier: H – zk verification for proof of humanity. Unique use case. STRK – zk execution layer scaling Ethereum. ROSE – Makes any application private and verifiable, regardless of where it runs. C-Tier: DUSK – Privacy-preserving blockchain infrastructure built for institutional finance. The privacy thesis is still early. Stay ahead of the curve.