Privacy tracks are starting to stir again. Mainstream privacy public chains like Dusk, Aztec, Secret, and Oasis are all making efforts. Who has stronger technology and who has a bigger outlook? That’s a question worth discussing.

First, let’s clarify the technical differentiation in this track. Zcash’s long-established privacy coin solution uses zk-SNARKs, enabling fully anonymous transactions. The downside is that it’s functionally limited—only transfers are possible, and smart contracts are not supported. Aztec takes a different approach—building an Ethereum Layer 2 solution that uses zk-rollup to batch privacy transactions on-chain. The advantage is leveraging Ethereum’s security and liquidity. Secret and Oasis chose the TEE (Trusted Execution Environment) route, using hardware-level privacy protection to run encrypted smart contracts. Dusk, on the other hand, is an independent Layer 1 with zero-knowledge proofs as its core technology, but its selling point is different—emphasizing compliance and regulatory friendliness, allowing for audits.

Looking at market capitalization reveals even more differences. Zcash still has a market cap of over $6 billion, but it’s basically a relic of privacy coins with almost no DeFi ecosystem. Aztec has not yet officially issued tokens, so it’s hard to compare. The latest market cap data for Secret and Oasis is difficult to estimate precisely, but it’s probably in the range of a few billion dollars. Dusk’s current market cap is only around $60 million, making it the smallest in this wave. A smaller market cap might mean more room for valuation growth, but it also exposes a lack of market recognition.

The underlying technology and ecosystem layout are what matter in the long run. Each of these projects has its own approach, but the key is who can build out the application ecosystem first.