The big privacy launches of 2026 are over. Zama's ZAMA token began trading on 2 February 2026. Aztec's AZTEC token became transferable on 12 February 2026. Namada and Penumbra have run live networks since 2025 and 2024, and the token sales that early guides promoted are closed. The newest development is Aztec Labs' relaunch of its zk.money private payments wallet on 29 September 2026. If you want to take part now, that means using these networks: shielding assets, running private transfers, staking. Pre-launch token hunting no longer applies here. Regulation is the other change to watch. From 10 July 2027, the EU's Anti-Money Laundering Regulation stops regulated crypto firms from offering accounts that use anonymity-enhancing coins.
The latest: Aztec brings back zk.money (29 September 2026)
Aztec Labs relaunched zk.money on Aztec Network, its Ethereum layer 2, on 29 September 2026, according to Decrypt. The original wallet had been shut for three years. Here is how the new version works:
- What is private: payments between users inside the wallet. What is not: deposits from Ethereum, which stay publicly visible.
- Limits during the early rollout: $2,500 per transaction, plus a $50,000 daily deposit ceiling shared by all users.
- Assets: USDC, USDT and DAI.
- Custody: the wallet is self-custodial. Aztec says it cannot spend or freeze user funds.
The relaunch happened while Aztec's network is still labelled Alpha software. On 27 July 2026, Aztec's core contributors found a critical vulnerability in the V5 Alpha proving system, and Aztec disclosed it publicly on 7 August. Aztec's own guidance tells users to treat funds and applications on V5 as exposed to a protocol-level failure until incident response is complete. It also says not to deposit more than they are willing to lose. Aztec plans a V6 release later in 2026 with circuit updates tied to the flaw.
How the privacy technology differs
Zero-knowledge proofs (Aztec, Penumbra, Namada)
A zero-knowledge proof lets someone prove a statement is true without revealing the data behind it. For example, you can prove a transfer is valid without exposing your balance. On Aztec, private functions run on the user's own device, which generates the proof before anything reaches the network.
Fully homomorphic encryption (Zama)
Fully homomorphic encryption (FHE) lets a computer work on data while it stays encrypted. In the Zama Protocol litepaper, the protocol is a "cross-chain confidentiality layer sitting on top of existing chains". Off-chain coprocessors run the FHE computations. Decryption keys are split among several parties through threshold multi-party computation, so no single party holds them. A contract has to grant permission before a value can be decrypted.
Multi-asset shielded pools (Namada)
Namada pools shielded assets from different chains into what it calls a "Unified Shielded Set". The design idea is that everyone shares one larger anonymity set, instead of each token having its own small one.
Privacy crypto: what has happened, what is next
Which privacy launches have already happened, and which dated changes are still ahead of you?
- 1 January 2026EU DAC8 reporting startsdone
Crypto-asset service providers in the EU must collect and report user transaction data to tax authorities. 2026 is the first reporting year.
- 2 February 2026ZAMA token begins tradingdone
After the sealed-bid Dutch auction of 21 to 25 January 2026, claims opened at 12:00 UTC and trading began at 13:00 UTC. The auction is over; staking ZAMA with an operator is the way to take part now.
- 12 February 2026AZTEC token becomes transferabledone
A governance vote triggered the token generation event. 100% of sale tokens became transferable, and trading began on a decentralised exchange pool.
- 27 July 2026Critical flaw found in Aztec V5 Alphadone
Aztec's core contributors found a critical vulnerability in the V5 Alpha proving system. Aztec disclosed it publicly on 7 August and told users not to deposit more than they are willing to lose.
- 29 September 2026zk.money relaunches on Aztecdone
Private payments between users in USDC, USDT and DAI. Deposits from Ethereum stay publicly visible. Early caps: $2,500 per transaction and a $50,000 daily deposit ceiling shared by all users.
- Later in 2026Aztec V6 release plannedplanned
Aztec plans a V6 release with circuit updates tied to the V5 flaw. Until incident response is complete, Aztec says to treat funds on V5 as exposed to a protocol-level failure.
- 10 July 2027EU AMLR Article 79 appliesupcoming
Credit institutions, financial institutions and crypto-asset service providers may not keep accounts that allow increased obfuscation, including through anonymity-enhancing coins. As reported, self-custody holders and makers of self-hosted wallets without access to them are not covered.
- 30 September 2027First DAC8 data exchange between member statesupcoming
EU member states exchange the 2026 transaction data that crypto-asset service providers reported.
This timeline covers only the dated events in the article up to 25 October 2026. It leaves out rules outside the EU and does not say whether any project or token suits you.
The projects, one by one
Aztec Network
- Mainnet: the Ignition Chain went live in November 2025, after the validator queue reached 500 (CoinDesk, 20 November 2025). Aztec called it "the first fully decentralized L2 on Ethereum". That is Aztec's own claim, and nobody has verified it independently.
- Token sale: more than 16,700 people took part, and the sale raised 19,476 ETH. About half the committed capital came from community users, testnet operators and creators (Aztec, 6 December 2025).
- Token launch: an on-chain governance vote, open to sale participants and genesis sequencers, triggered the token generation event. To pass, the vote needed at least 100,000,000 AZTEC to take part and two-thirds voting yes. At launch, 100% of sale tokens became transferable, and a pool on a decentralised exchange opened with 273,000,000 AZTEC. Trading began on 12 February 2026.
- 2026 upgrades: in March 2026, Aztec said transactions would be enabled only if a governance vote on the upgrade passed. V5 then went to mainnet in mid-2026, and the critical vulnerability above was found in July.
- Earlier funding: Aztec announced a $100 million Series B led by a16z crypto on 15 December 2022. Funding databases list about $119 million in equity funding in total.
How to take part now: use zk.money or other Aztec applications within the published caps, or stake AZTEC to run a sequencer. A future airdrop for Aztec users has not been announced.
Zama
- Funding: a $57 million Series B on 25 June 2025, led by Blockchange Ventures and Pantera Capital. That brought total funding to over $150 million at a valuation above $1 billion, according to Zama's press release.
- Mainnet: the Zama Protocol went live on Ethereum on 30 December 2025, with the first confidential cUSDT transfer. Reports of this came via Zama's community forum and PANews.
- Auction and token: a sealed-bid Dutch auction ran from 21 to 25 January 2026 and drew more than 11,000 unique participants. More than $121 million was encrypted on Ethereum during bidding. The Block notes that this figure is not the amount raised. Claims opened at 12:00 UTC on 2 February 2026, and trading began at 13:00 UTC.
- Token role: ZAMA pays for encryption and decryption and rewards operators and stakers. All fees are burned, and new rewards are minted on a yearly emission schedule.
- Roadmap: the litepaper lists other EVM chains for the first half of 2026 and Solana for the second half. This draft does not confirm whether either has shipped.
How to take part now: the auction is over. You can stake ZAMA with an operator, or use applications that hold confidential tokens.
Namada
- Mainnet: Namada's five-phase launch began in December 2024. It ended on 20 June 2025, when governance proposal 26 enabled full NAM transferability.
- Shielded value: at that date, 10 IBC assets were shielded, with a total value shielded of nearly $6 million. That figure is from June 2025. We have not checked a current figure.
- Shielding rewards: Namada says it pays users to keep assets in its shielded set.
How to take part now: move supported IBC assets into the shielded set to earn shielding rewards, or stake NAM.
Penumbra
- Mainnet: launched in July 2024 as a shielded, cross-chain network in the Cosmos ecosystem. Users can transact, stake, swap and make markets on it.
- Team status: Penumbra Labs, the main development company, says it "is winding down operations". It adds that its software, including the protocol, is open source and permissively licensed. A January 2026 post from the project's X account put the shutdown more than four months earlier, which suggests about September 2025.
The network still runs, but no company is behind it, and that is a higher-risk setup than the other three projects.
Monero: the established privacy coin
Monero (XMR) reached an all-time high of $797.73 on 14 January 2026, per The Block. The Block also reported that investigator ZachXBT linked the rally, at least in part, to a thief converting stolen funds into Monero after a $282 million theft on 10 January. The Block itself found no clear on-chain evidence for every flagged wallet. On 25 October 2026, CoinGecko listed XMR at $604.59, ranked #13 by market value.
Regulation: the dates that matter
- EU, 1 January 2026 (DAC8): crypto-asset service providers must collect and report user transaction data to tax authorities. The first reporting year is 2026, and member states exchange that data by 30 September 2027 (European Commission).
- EU, 10 July 2027 (AMLR, Regulation (EU) 2024/1624, Article 79): credit institutions, financial institutions and crypto-asset service providers may not keep anonymous crypto-asset accounts. They also may not keep accounts that allow increased obfuscation of transactions, "including through anonymity-enhancing coins". As reported, the ban does not cover individuals holding coins in self-custody, or makers of self-hosted wallets without access to those wallets. Some implementing details are still being drafted.
- Anywhere: check local rules before using shielded tools. Rules differ by country and keep changing.
Risks to weigh
- Software maturity: Aztec runs Alpha software with a disclosed critical flaw and caps on transfers. Bugs in zero-knowledge circuits or FHE implementations can compromise both funds and privacy.
- Thin anonymity sets: a pool with few users protects less. Namada's shielded value was about $6 million in June 2025.
- Team risk: Penumbra now depends on community maintainers.
- Market access: from July 2027, EU-regulated platforms will not be able to offer accounts that use anonymity-enhancing coins.
- Volatility: XMR fell from $797.73 in January 2026 to $604.59 on 25 October 2026.
Limitations: figures come from project announcements and press coverage up to 25 October 2026. Prices, caps and roadmaps change quickly, and nothing here is investment advice.
