Satoshi released the Bitcoin Whitepaper 18 years ago today And he believed bitcoin:native could be private Most of you have never read the Bitcoin Whitepaper, so you wouldn't know this He said: "privacy can still be maintained by breaking the flow of information in another place: by keeping public keys anonymous" Think about it Bitcoin actually started off fully private Unless one publicly proclaimed they owned and operated a wallet, no one knew who was who So how and why did that change? > CEXs started requiring KYC > Govt. regulations enforced KYC/AML policies > Early on, it was hard to get bitcoin:native unless you mined it Because most people were not mining Bitcoin, they had to buy it from the market > OTC deals on forums > Bitcoin ATMs in person > Centralized Exchanges Long story short: Bitcoin's price appreciation created massive demand and most of the market participants who wanted Bitcoin were willing to sacrifice privacy to own bitcoin:native You can still acquire bitcoin:native in a wallet privately and while the transactions will be publicly shared on the blockchain, no one will know it was you if you follow Satoshi's advice Times have changed though and the onramp demand into crypto has made KYC a normal process in web3 Enter @Zcash, for those who want maximum privacy zcash:native is not only a store of value, but bitcoin:native's private twin with optionality at the privacy level Privacy is not a narrative or a meta Satoshi was preaching it in 2008 It has been the main theme of 2026 and it's only becoming more important with AI hacks, mass surveillance, and the digital age A year ago today, zcash:native was $350 Now, the chart looks ready to go to $3,500 I think we are still very early, but it's nice to get a reminder that even Satoshi realized how important privacy was in 2008