Bitcoin Obsessions

Why Monero Has Already Won Against Zcash In the battle for truly anonymous digital currency, there is still debate over whether Zcash could ever surpass Monero, even though the fight has long been decided. The following will outline the reasons why. Network effects Money is fundamentally a coordination device, relying on strong network effects to function effectively. To illustrate this, consider prisons as a microcosm of economic systems. In many prisons worldwide, tobacco has long served as the de facto currency due to its divisibility, portability, and desirability among inmates. However, in American prisons a shift occurred: tobacco was banned, and inmates began coordinating around ramen noodles instead. This change was not random, nor was it driven by efforts to displace tobacco or improvements in ramen’s properties. Ramen simply became the most viable alternative under the new constraints. Elsewhere, where tobacco remains legal and smokers abound, it continues to dominate prison markets. Other goods like drugs, tea, or sweets might occasionally serve as currency, but as long as trading tobacco is risk-free, it prevails. This analogy extends to the digital realm. Monero has already conquered the "digital streets" as the premier anonymous cryptocurrency. This is not just echo-chamber hype but an observable fact. Monero is actively used on platforms such as Coincards, Shopinbit, Trocador, Mullvad, SilentLink, and Bisq. Despite Bitcoin’s first-mover advantage, it has achieved dominance on darknet markets (DNMs). Just as prison economies can switch currencies under pressure, crypto adoption follows social coordination dynamics. If a new technology offered clear advantages, a shift could occur, as has happened on DNMs. But what does Zcash offer over Monero? Nothing decisive. Monero is already sufficiently effective as anonymous digital cash, and even claims of Zcash’s technical superiority will fade once Monero’s Full-Chain Membership Proofs (FCMP++) are fully deployed. Fungibility: The Core Advantage From its inception, Monero has held a decisive edge in one critical area: uncompromising, universal fungibility. Zcash deliberately sacrificed this for strategic reasons, creating consequences it cannot undo. Shielded Zcash transactions resemble coinjoined Bitcoin: fungible coins within an otherwise non-fungible system. In theory, shielded ZEC is as private as Monero. In practice, it falls short: Suspicion by default: Using shielded ZEC is itself suspicious. Investigators exploit outliers, drawing inferences from transaction timing, amounts, and pool switches. While shielded coins are technically indistinguishable, they are heuristically compromised. In Monero, every XMR is fungible and anonymous. All coins are equally “suspicious,” which means suspicion is meaningless. There are no fingerprints, no leads, no forensic entry points. Those that exist are not intentional, but technical weaknesses that are constantly being eliminated with upgrades such as Dandelion++ or FCMP++. People know they are fallible. When livelihoods or freedom depend on avoiding mistakes, robust fungibility becomes non-negotiable. This is why DNMs abandoned Bitcoin despite its liquidity: optional privacy is too risky when default privacy exists. Even Bitcoin maximalists privately use Monero when absolute anonymity is required. The convenience of built-in privacy and peace of mind is invaluable. Zcash cannot replicate this. Its opt-in design always invites user error. Zashi, a privacy by default wallet, is promoted as a solution for this problem, but it merely shifts the trust issue to the wallet provider. That provider could theoretically collaborate with authorities, inserting backdoors to switch wallets of targeted users into transparent mode or logging metadata that compromises privacy. Open-source audits reduce but do not eliminate this risk. The result is privacy that depends on trusted middlemen, not on an uncompromising protocol. 1/3