5 Best Privacy Coins for Real-World Use in (2025)

Privacy is the foundation of personal freedom, security, and dignity in the modern world.

It’s not about hiding what you are doing with your own money, but having the right to maintain control over who has access to this information. Details regarding your income, investments, savings, expenses, and debts constitute personal information that deserves protection.

These details, after all, can reveal sensitive aspects of an individual’s life, including their profession, location, relationships, religious beliefs, and political leanings.

In today’s era of increasing censorship, it is more important than ever for individuals to safeguard their privacy and prevent potential prejudice. There have been, after all, several instances in which governments, corporations, and institutions have used financial data and the financial system to discriminate against people and exert undue control over them.

In Canada, when people protested the COVID-19 lockdowns, then Prime Minister Justin Trudeau invoked the Emergencies Act to stop them by freezing the bank accounts of those involved in the protests without first getting a court order. In a matter of weeks, the government froze over 200 bank accounts. At the time, Ottawa’s deputy chief, Steve Bell, said:

“If you are involved in this protest, we will actively look to identify you and follow up with financial sanctions and criminal charges.“

So, when governments or institutions gain unrestricted access to financial data, they can manipulate behavior through financial pressure. It also gives them the power to censor transactions and impose surveillance.

Then there’s the matter of your financial information getting exposed. If this data gets into the hands of malicious actors, they can use it to steal your identity, drain your accounts, or make unauthorized purchases, making financial privacy a matter of self-defense.

Also, when individuals and businesses can transact freely and privately, they’re even more likely to innovate and take risks.

But with the rise of digital payments and online banking, achieving it is becoming difficult. While digital systems are efficient, they make it very easy to track and monitor financial activities, and governments and organizations do that without even an individual’s explicit consent or awareness, thereby eroding personal privacy. 

This is where privacy coins come into the picture.

Privacy coins are a type of cryptocurrency that uses advanced cryptographic techniques to obscure transaction details such as sender, receiver, and amount, providing users with a higher degree of anonymity than public blockchains like Bitcoin and Ethereum. 

These cryptocurrencies are designed to protect user financial privacy by making it difficult, or in some cases impossible, to trace transactions or link them to an individual’s real-world identity.

Privacy coins first emerged over a decade ago, pioneering privacy techniques. However, they faced regulatory pushback, with policymakers and banks saying that privacy coins can hinder Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CTF) measures.

As a result, crypto exchanges were forced to remove them or restrict access to them. Despite that, privacy coins continue to survive. 

And now, there is a renewed demand for anonymity, with privacy coins capturing both market interest and capital. They are currently experiencing a powerful upswing, in stark contrast to the rest of the market, which is retracting.

Amidst the ongoing drawdown, Bitcoin fell under $100,000 on November 4th and is now 19.2% off its ATH of $126K on October 6th.

In tandem, altcoins plunged in value, and with that, the total cryptocurrency market capitalization has fallen to $3.47 trillion.

So, while the majority of cryptocurrencies are experiencing a slump, privacy coins have been enjoying a rally. This signals an awakening of crypto’s promise of financial freedom.

With the market taking a special interest in privacy coins, which have defied the current depressing trend, let’s take a look at the most prominent privacy coins and their strengths and weaknesses.

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1. Litecoin (LTC): Optional Privacy for Everyday Payments

A peer-to-peer cryptocurrency, Litecoin was based on the Bitcoin protocol but with some marked differences. It was actually created to be faster and cheaper than the trillion-dollar crypto king.

Compared to Bitcoin’s 10-minute block generation, it only takes 2.5 minutes for Litecoin to mine a block. This makes the altcoin faster, enabling it to handle higher transaction volumes. Moreover, Litecoin uses the Scrypt proof-of-work algorithm, which today is mined competitively with Scrypt ASICs (not GPUs).

While Litecoin wasn’t originally created as a privacy coin, its developers have continuously upgraded the network over time to include privacy-enhancing features. The most notable example of this was when Litecoin implemented the use of MimbleWimble Extension Blocks (MWEB). This opt-in privacy upgrade was deployed on the Litecoin network in May 2022. MWEB also supports view keys so users can selectively disclose amounts to auditors or exchanges without exposing them publicly.

Such innovations have effectively transformed Litecoin from a transparent Bitcoin alternative into a versatile digital asset capable of offering optional financial privacy while retaining broad exchange support.

Instead of providing default privacy, this design offers optional privacy that improves the fungibility. It combines MimbleWimble privacy features and a data compression protocol on top of the Extension Block scaling framework. To enable private transactions, coins are sent to a private blockchain that runs parallel to the main chain and is secured by the same miners. 

While parallel to the main chain, these extension blocks exist within each Litecoin block. Any transaction within these blocks hides addresses and amounts using Confidential Transactions, CoinJoin-like aggregation and cut-through (no public addresses exist inside MWEB). Opt-in privacy, however, means the amount of liquidity entering or leaving MWEB can be tracked.

Now, Litecoin’s supply is capped at 84 million, four times higher than that of Bitcoin, which means there will only ever be this much LTC and no more. Out of this fixed supply, 76.48 million LTC tokens are already mined and circulating in the market.

Litecoin is the 33rd largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization of $6.6 billion. As of writing, LTC is trading at $87.7, down 15.5% year-to-date (YTD). At these prices, the altcoin is 79% off its all-time high (ATH) of $410.26 from May 2021.

Recently, it became one of the very few altcoins to launch its own exchange-traded fund (ETF), opening the door to institutional capital. Canary Capital launched a Litecoin Spot ETF (Nasdaq: LTCC) in the final week of October. So far, it has captured over $200,000 in inflows.

“As one of the longest-running blockchains, Litecoin has demonstrated a proven track record of security and reliability with significant enterprise-class use cases. With LTCC, we are proud to provide investors an SEC-registered vehicle to gain exposure to this important digital asset.”

– Steven McClurg, CEO and founder of Canary Capital

In addition to institutional credibility, Litecoin is also widely available, unlike most privacy coins. It is actually listed on a vast majority of cryptocurrency exchanges such as Binance, Coinbase (COIN -2.26%), Bybit, HTX, KuCoin, OKX, and others.

For most people who value convenience and reduced traceability rather than maximum anonymity, Litecoin remains easy to buy, broadly supported by wallets, and offers opt-in MWEB privacy—making it the clear everyday privacy winner.

2. Monero (XMR): Default, Maximum-Grade Privacy

Monero is the leader in true privacy coins, designed to hide the identities of its users and the details of their transactions. To make this possible, it uses a range of advanced cryptographic techniques, including ring signatures, RingCT, and stealth addresses.

1. Ring signatures: This technique allows a group of individuals to digitally sign a message anonymously. By creating a ‘ring’ of potential senders, it hides the true sender of a transaction. 
2. Stealth addresses: These are unique one-time addresses that are generated for a transaction’s recipient, so external observers cannot link the transaction to a public address. And once the funds have been claimed by the recipient, the address is automatically destroyed.
3. RingCT: Ring Confidential Transactions adds an additional layer of privacy to a transaction by hiding the amount being sent, thus preventing the tracking of funds. The technique does that by mixing the actual amount that’s being sent with other amounts.

Together, these techniques make privacy on Monero complete and automatic, which isn’t unlike just Bitcoin but also other privacy coins. So, when you send XMR, there’s no knowing who sent the payment, who received it, or even how much was transferred. 

What’s more, Monero uses a mining algorithm called RandomX, which runs efficiently on regular CPUs, so one doesn’t even need any special or expensive hardware to help decentralize and secure the network, in exchange for which miners receive a fixed reward of 0.6 XMR. This small reward means steady inflation to the total supply over time. As of November 2025, almost 18.45 million XMR tokens are circulating in the market with no limit on Monero’s total supply.

The most private coin in the crypto space, Monero, however, is widely utilized by not only those who seek financial privacy but also by criminals. Data shows that XMR transactions accounted for 42% of crypto activity on dark web markets in 2024. 

This subjects it to regulatory restrictions, which creates liquidity issues for Monero. XMR isn’t as liquid as other cryptos because many regulated exchanges have either not listed it or have delisted it in certain regions due to regulatory concerns. Currently, it is available on Kraken, KuCoin, HTX, Bitfinex, and a few other smaller exchanges.

With a market cap of $6.73 billion, Monero is the 2nd largest privacy coin while sitting at the 32nd place in the overall crypto market. As of this writing, XMR is trading at $352, up 82% this year but down 35% from the peak of $542.33 that was hit in January 2018.

So, with its default and top-notch privacy, Monero is the ultimate privacy coin, but this also means it has limited adoption, and its usage can raise compliance attention.

3. Zcash (ZEC): zk-Proof Privacy with Selective Transparency

Zcash is a privacy-optional cryptocurrency that uses zk-SNARKs. It allows a transaction to be proved valid without revealing the data inside it, like amounts or addresses.

Now, there are two options to choose from: transparent addresses or shielded addresses. In transparent addresses, as the name suggests, transaction data is publicly available. In shielded addresses, transaction information is hidden using zk-SNARK tech.

One can freely transfer funds between the two addresses, allowing users to maintain selective privacy. This makes Zcash useful for both everyday and private payments.

Zcash has implemented three versions of its privacy-preserving protocol, viz. Sprout, Sapling, and Orchard have each introduced a new shielded pool while maintaining compatibility with previous versions.

While shielded use isn’t widespread, it is growing rapidly. The network’s shielded supply has surged to 4.54 million, up from 1.95 million at the beginning of the year. With about 25% of ZEC’s circulating supply held in encrypted addresses and 30% of transactions involving the shielded pool, this shows that there is now growing interest in privacy.

With the Zcash-only, self-custodial wallet Zashi making shielded transfers the default, this adoption should continue to increase.

Much like Bitcoin, Zcash has a total supply capped at 21 million ZEC, of which just over 16.7 million are already circulating.

With a market cap of $7.1 billion, ZEC is the largest privacy coin and the 30th largest cryptocurrency overall. Being the driver of the fresh privacy coin narrative, ZEC has been rallying like crazy since late September, when it was trading only around $55. On November 4th, the ZEC price jumped past $479, representing a 771% increase in just a month and a half.

Right before ZEC had its run-up, AngelList co-founder Naval Ravikant praised Zcash to his 2.9 million followers on X when he posted:

“Bitcoin is insurance against fiat, and Zcash is insurance against Bitcoin.”

Ravikant, who is known for his early investments in over 200 companies, including X and Uber, actually invested in Zerocoin Electric Coin Company back in 2015. It is the same company that developed Zcash.

As of writing, ZEC is trading at $484, up 722% YTD and 1,172% in the past year. Despite its outsized returns this year, ZEC is down a whopping 85% from its peak of $3,192 that it hit in October 2016.

4. Beam (BEAM): Mimblewimble Privacy + DeFi Ambitions

Beam is a MimbleWimble implementation that offers users confidentiality and fungibility by default for transactions on its chain.

Instead of adding layers on top of the original blockchain, coins like BEAM that use MimbleWimble enforce privacy at the protocol level. MimbleWimble is a privacy-focused protocol that enhances transactional privacy through Confidential Transactions (CTs), CoinJoin, Cut-Through, Range Proofs, and Dandelion. 

Support for online and offline transactions and atomic swaps, along with the blockchain’s size and opt-in auditability, enhances scalability. It also offers the benefit of fungibility, meaning a coin’s value is unaffected by its history or association with illegal activities.

It is themed after the Harry Potter series, where Mimblewimble (also known as Tongue-Tying Curse) refers to a spell that prevents the target from revealing specific information.

And that is exactly what the MimbleWimble chain, Beam, does: it conceals all the details of a transaction. Transactions on Beam are private by default, with no identity-related information like addresses ever recorded on the blockchain. 

To further evolve Beam into a fully functional confidential DeFi platform, its team expanded on MimbleWimble’s initial idea by integrating a Lelantus shielded pool and a Beam Virtual Machine that allows it to run smart contracts.

When it comes to token supply, BEAM has capped it at 262.8 million, with 189.5 million BEAM tokens currently circulating in the market.

As for market performance, BEAM is currently trading at $0.0352, putting its market capitalization at $6.5 million. The low-cap privacy coin is down 21% in the past 30 days and 40% YTD. BEAM did see some action recently, though, between September 26th and October 6th, its price went from $0.02 to $0.0635. At its current price, BEAM is down 99.2% from its $4.28 ATH set in January 2018.

BEAM also trades on Uniswap via wrapped BEAM (WBEAM) bridges, alongside centralized venues like Gate.io, CoinEx, and MEXC.

5. Dash (DASH): CoinJoin-Style Mixing and Fast Payments

Unlike other privacy coins that employ advanced mechanisms to provide sophisticated privacy features, Dash offers a relatively simple PrivateSend feature.

It uses the CoinJoin technique to provide user privacy. What it does is when you want to send DASH privately, a certain amount of coins is taken and mixed with others to conceal both the origin and the destination of a transaction.

In order to start the mixing process, one requests that masternodes, who don’t know who’s sending the request, and then the mix request is put into a “mix queue”, which also contains requests from other individuals. Once the queue is full, the mixing process begins when the masternode combines the entries and instructs the users’ wallets to make the corresponding payments. This process is repeated several times to completely hide funds.

Opt-in mixing, while weaker than default anonymity, is useful for those who want occasional additional privacy.

Recently, the Dash DAO voted on a governance proposal to implement CT support to further enhance the project’s privacy features by hiding transaction amounts in addresses.

Dash also offers an InstantSend feature for swift transactions.

In the past week, the price of DASH has surged 136.5% and 400% in the past year. On September 26th, DASH was worth only about $20 per token when the privacy narrative took hold of the cryptocurrency market, and the token surged as high as $146.55 on November 5th, representing an increase of 632.75% in less than two months.

Currently trading at $109.2, DASH price is up 180% YTD but still down 93% from the ATH of $1,493.5 in December 2017.

When it comes to DASH tokenomics, its total supply has been kept fixed at 18.92 million, with 12.473 million already circulating in the market. With a market cap of $1.38 billion, DASH sits among the top 100 cryptos. 

It is also available on a wide range of crypto exchanges, including Binance, Coinbase, Kraken, KuCoin, Bitfinex, and many others.

Bottom Line

Financial privacy is the need of today’s hyper-digital and interconnected world. It empowers people to control their own economic lives without exploitation. It is not about hiding wrongdoing; it’s about maintaining the freedom to live, transact, and plan your future without being watched or profiled.

Privacy-focused cryptocurrencies offer a powerful way to achieve that. For everyday people, Litecoin MWEB is the practical choice to preserve their financial dignity with ease, while for those who are operating under greater risk, like activists and journalists, Monero offers unparalleled privacy.