United for Privacy Space Recap | Exolix

United for Privacy Space Recap: Why Privacy in Crypto Matters More Than Ever in 2026

Privacy is no longer a fringe topic within the cryptocurrency world. Rather, it is a requirement for both individuals and organizations that want to navigate a landscape defined by surveillance, more aggressive regulations, and increased threats of harm in the real world. This was the overarching topic of discussion at the United for Privacy Roundtable hosted by Exolix on March 30, 2026.

X Spaces focused on the question of why privacy has become more important today, the challenges faced when dealing with regulations, the use cases for privacy tokens, and what can be expected over the next 12-24 months within the space of privacy. Listed below are some of the key questions raised and their corresponding answers.

Who joined the United for Privacy roundtable?

Discussion highlights include:

• Joel Valenzuela: Dash

• Gonzalo: Zano

• Daniel: Pirate Chain

• Lawrence: ShopinBit

• Host: Alex from Exolix

Each participant had his own approach towards the topic of privacy, be it payments, layer 1 infrastructure, or even merchant implementations in the real world.

Q: Why does privacy feel more urgent in crypto right now?

Dash

As mentioned by Dash, the importance of privacy has risen due to the fact that the actual dangers of transparent blockchains have begun manifesting themselves in real life. Just a few years ago, blockchain transparency was viewed as a technological problem. Nowadays, it has become a security problem.

Joel noted that more individuals, including both criminals and law enforcement agencies, know how to use blockchain explorers. As a result, besides online tracking, users also face tangible dangers like robbery and what can be called a "wrench attack." Cryptocurrencies are increasingly penetrating the mainstream economic world, and this makes a publicly available transaction history much more dangerous than it was in the hobbyist period.

Zano

Zano stressed that the need for privacy now applies not only to users themselves but also to the organizations that they work for.

As Gonzalo pointed out, many systems for organizational privacy are based on what he called "privacy with a backdoor," which is contradictory. From his perspective, it is important that privacy remains within users' control. Otherwise, people will feel safe even though there are vulnerabilities.

Pirate Chain

The Pirate Chain took it even further, stating that people were now suffering the effects of lacking privacy. Daniel asserted that transparency would increasingly become an obstacle to fungibility when dealing with digital currencies since each coin is traceable.

Money should be fungible to function properly, and as such, transparency is becoming an increasing deviation from the required standard. On the other hand, privacy coins will retain the attributes of money, which include speed, censorship resistance, reduced fees, and anonymity. 

ShopinBit

ShopinBit also noted that privacy is fast becoming mainstream, as opposed to being a feature of crypto enthusiasts alone. Lawrence stressed the increasing realization among users that their activities on the blockchain could make them subject to surveillance, profiling, and even blackmail.

Privacy by design is important since users generally do not go out of their way to secure themselves. They will not engage with anything that requires effort or technical expertise.

Q: What real-world problems do privacy-focused projects solve?

Dash

Dash vision was to create the best digital cash and payments network possible. Instant payments, low fees, scalability, and privacy were just a few of the goals. According to Joel, privacy was not an optional component but one required to make money practical and secure.

Zano

Zano's unique selling point was a private Layer 1 platform for decentralized applications and private assets. According to Gonzalo, privacy was crucial to creating a permissionless crypto environment. Otherwise, what was the purpose of crypto if every transaction required permission, monitoring, and exposure?

Pirate Chain

Pirate Chain was mainly concerned with a single use case - private digital cash. As stated by Daniel, privacy coins currently allow individuals to transfer large sums instantly at very low costs without disclosing any of their personal financial information to the entire network.

ShopinBit

ShopinBit introduced the topic to commerce. According to Lawrence, privacy coins are already utilized to purchase goods, travel, and services in real life. ShopinBit allows people to spend crypto privately on various items such as electronics, accommodation, and even cars without conducting any KYC.

Q: What is the biggest regulatory challenge for privacy projects today?

Dash

Of the various opinions expressed by Dash, I believe that his was one of the most realistic as the project has gone through years of delisting and regulations. Joel argued that the law is not usually the biggest hurdle in such situations. In most instances, exchanges act on perception of danger, pressure from partners, or even their own fear.

The laws governing cryptocurrencies can be said to be inconsistent as well, since some regions have more hostility towards it while in other regions the laws are uncertain.

Zano

Zano further added that the underlying idea was that privacy had to stay within the hands of the user. Gonzalo further emphasized that the user had the absolute right to divulge details if they so wished, for instance, an accountant or spouse.

However, he strongly discouraged backdoor options on the basis that they created a false sense of security and were easy to manipulate or hack into.

Pirate Chain

In comparison, Pirate Chain chose to make a point on an ideological level by claiming that privacy coins are not asking for any new rights but defending the existing ones. This is how Daniel explained his analogy between financial privacy and the privacy which people already have in their dealings with physical money and in their private houses.

ShopinBit

ShopinBit concentrated on clear legality. According to Lawrence, users did not always know the true meaning behind the AML and KYC requirements, believing their reach was much wider than it actually was. He stated that companies needed to realize the rights granted to them under the law regarding direct cryptocurrency payment and freedom of contract.

Q: How do privacy projects remain usable for normal people?

Dash

Usability is a key point according to Dash. It is important not only to implement features but also to make them usable so that everyone can use them. According to Joel, Dash continues making progress with usability and privacy updates to stay usable as a payment network.

Zano

The second thing pointed out by Zano is getting rid of the old balance between privacy and speed. According to Gonzalo, the common assumption of the user base is that privacy equals speed and practicality. However, Zano will try to solve this problem with improved consensus to keep the high level of privacy but get the high speed of transactions.

Pirate Chain

The third point was highlighted by Pirate Chain. According to Daniel, people do not have to sacrifice their privacy for usability. Therefore, the goal of Pirate Chain is still to provide maximum privacy as a basic function.

ShopinBit

The last company which focused on usability issues is ShopinBit. As ShopinBit got rid of email requirements in some steps, they plan to continue creating easy access to products and services including travel and other things.

Q: How can people actually use privacy crypto in real life?

ShopinBit

ShopinBit provided the clearest answer from the merchant's side. Lawrence mentioned that people can currently buy goods and services, book accommodation, arrange their travels, and even purchase luxury products via ShopinBit without revealing anything about themselves. Travel is the most powerful use case because crypto enthusiasts travel to conferences and need better solutions for privacy.

Lawrence also stated that privacy issues concern both buyers and sellers or service providers. The commercial connection between the parties, the history of transactions, and behavior patterns must remain private.

Dash

Dash referred to merchant adoption and usability in payments. Joel stated that millions of merchants worldwide accept Dash, and Dash remains committed to developing practical payments infrastructure.

Pirate Chain

Pirate Chain stressed that anonymous digital cash currently serves the purpose of facilitating P2P payments. Daniel urged individuals to utilize their privacy coins, besides holding them.

Zano

Zano highlighted actual usage in terms of confidential assets and private application infrastructure. Instead of merely transferring coins, Zano is creating an entire ecosystem where privacy can enable economic activity.

Q: Why does spending with privacy coins matter for merchants and service providers?

The consensus among the visitors was that the issue of privacy does not merely concern concealing information from the authorities or criminals. Rather, it also ensures healthy business relations.

For businessmen, some of the advantages privacy would provide include:

• less exposure of financial activities and consumer behavior

• protection of the business strategy from other businesses

• prevention of profiling and targeted cyberattacks

• natural adoption of cryptocurrency as currency

This notion resonated particularly well with the presentations made by ShopinBit and Zano because transparency is rarely ever good for business.

Q: What innovations or developments are projects most excited about for the next 12-24 months? 

Dash

The Dash privacy protocol will soon see some major upgrades, which are described by Joel as extremely important for the network's future. The Dash team will continue making investments into events presence, ecosystem interactions, and merchant ease-of-use.

Zano

The Zano team has presented the upcoming consensus protocol improvements, which would make private transactions extremely fast, allowing users to dispel rumors regarding the trade-off between privacy and speed. The AI tools and the development of custom interfaces have been suggested as another source of possibilities by Gonzalo.

Pirate Chain

A very specific upgrade was mentioned by Pirate Chain representatives during the discussion. It would provide a possibility to disclose separate transactions without compromising the entire private history through a full view key, thus giving the user the possibility to prove to exchanges and other partners the transaction they did.

ShopinBit

According to ShopinBit, one of its upcoming initiatives would include greater integration with wallets, which will make the process of moving from private storage and swaps to real-world payments more efficient. Lawrence also mentioned the increasing need for private travel bookings and crypto concierges.

Q: How can privacy projects collaborate more effectively?

Cooperation was certainly a theme that came up repeatedly at the roundtable. It is critical for privacy projects to be able to work together and to learn from one another's successes and failures, as well as to create a culture of privacy first adoption.

Here are some ways that these collaborations take place currently:

• liquidity exchanges partnerships

• merchant onboarding

• wallet upgrades and infrastructure improvements

• education campaigns and advocacy

The overall message from the community seems to be that privacy projects working together will make everyone stronger in an environment where they are not fully understood.

Privacy Can't Be Optional Anymore

The United for Privacy roundtable event sent one loud and clear signal: crypto privacy is no longer an abstract concept. Instead, it is directly linked to personal security, financial independence, merchant friendliness, and the architecture of digital currency.

From Dash to Zano, Pirate Chain, ShopinBit, and Exolix, all panelists emphasized that consumers require products that keep their identities safe by default, rather than products that put their identities at risk unless they make some advanced modifications.

With regulatory pressures increasing and surveillance technology becoming more widespread, the privacy sector in crypto will gradually move from its periphery to the core of one of the field's hottest discussions.

Catch the full "United for Privacy" roundtable here.