Dash Integrates Zcash Privacy Pool As the Privacy Narrative Heats Up

Dash, a layer-1 blockchain protocol with privacy-preserving features, announced on Thursday the integration of Zcash’s “Orchard” shielded pool into the Dash Evolution chain, a secondary layer on the L1 network that supports smart contract functionality.

The integration will go live following the completion of cybersecurity audits and is expected to launch in March, according to an announcement shared with Cointelegraph.

Initially, the integration will support basic transfers of Zcash (ZEC) from one party to another on the Evolution chain, with subsequent upgrades adding Orchard’s privacy features for tokenized real-world assets (RWAs), the announcement said.

The price of the DASH (DASH), the native token of the network, surged by over 125% in January. Dash briefly reached a local high of about $96 on the Binance crypto exchange before retracing to current levels.

Onchain privacy protocols and privacy blockchain tokens gained significant momentum in 2025 and early 2026, with proponents of the technology framing it as a response to increased financial surveillance from governments and corporations.

Related: Starknet taps EY Nightfall to bring institutional privacy to Ethereum rails

Lack of privacy is holding back crypto payments, while the tech comes under fire

“Lack of Privacy may be the missing link for crypto payments adoption,” according to Changpeng Zhao (CZ), the co-founder of the Binance cryptocurrency exchange.

Businesses will not adopt blockchain technology unless privacy-preserving tools can shield payments, which contain sensitive information about employee compensation, CZ said.

Transaction data could also reveal information about key partnerships and other trade secrets to competitors, Avidan Abitbol, a former business development specialist for the Kaspa cryptocurrency project, told Cointelegraph.

Agata Ferreira, assistant professor at the Warsaw University of Technology, argues that true financial privacy is achieved through a combination of regulation, culture and code, rather than simply protecting onchain metadata.

User anonymity can still be breached, and ownership of privacy tokens can be determined through forensic analysis and law enforcement investigation, according to critics of the technology, like author and Bitcoin (BTC) advocate Saifedean Ammous.

In January 2026, Dubai’s Financial Services Authority (DFSA), a financial regulator for the emirate, banned privacy tokens, including ZEC and XMR (XMR), the native token of the Monero privacy protocol.

The ban does not prevent citizens from holding the tokens, but does prohibit regulated crypto exchanges from selling the tokens to new users, highlighting the tension between state regulators and privacy technology.

Magazine: 2026 is the year of pragmatic privacy in crypto: Canton, Zcash and more