Why Crypto Fails without Privacy with Mert Mumtaz (Helius)

In this episode, Austin chats with Mert about why privacy is becoming essential for crypto and on-chain finance. They discuss how ZK-based privacy works via shielded pools, commitments, proofs, and nullifiers, contrasting it with Monero’s probabilistic obfuscation. Mert explains Zcash’s renewed adoption through improved usability, macro and regulatory shifts, and fairer historical distribution. He argues privacy layers fail when they lack tangible benefits, and outlines a new fully on-chain, composable, atomic privacy protocol for Solana built with Light Protocol’s compression approach, including permissionless and enterprise “zones” with configurable compliance features and reduced MEV via encrypted swaps.  00:00 - Why Privacy Matters  03:05 - Zcash And ZK Origins  06:26 - How Shielded Pools Work  09:56 - Why Zcash Broke Out  15:52 - Why Privacy Layers Fail  19:47 - Solana Privacy Protocol  22:57 - Composability Breakthrough  25:51 - Go-To-Market Plan  30:50 - Compliance And Zones  32:40 - Onchain Versus Off Chain  34:58 - Zcash And Solana’s Future  40:29 - Bitcoin Privacy And Quantum  43:48 - Closing And Where To Find Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.