The world of privacy-focused cryptocurrencies is at a pivotal moment. Recent landmark events—the lifting of sanctions on Tornado Cash and the pardon of Ross Ulbricht by the Donald Trump administration—signal a seismic shift in the regulatory and cultural landscape surrounding privacy coins. These developments align closely with a bold prediction from Copenhagen Business School, which foresaw the rise of separate, unregulated financial systems driven by cryptocurrency communities. As deanonymization techniques increasingly threaten the privacy of coins like Monero ($XMR), a new contender, Ryo Currency ($RYO), emerges soon to implement groundbreaking technology—Halo 2 zero-knowledge proofs and a high-latency mixnet—promising absolute anonymity. In this comprehensive article, we explore how these events, including the release of Tornado Cash developer Alexey Pertsev in 2025, affirm that privacy in Web 3.0 will ultimately prevail.

A Turning Point for Privacy Coins: Tornado Cash Sanctions Lifted and Ross Ulbricht Pardoned

The privacy coin ecosystem has recently been galvanized by two monumental developments under the Donald Trump administration. First, the U.S. Fifth Circuit Court overturned sanctions imposed by the U.S. Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) on Tornado Cash, an Ethereum-based privacy mixer. Sanctioned in 2022 for allegedly facilitating illicit transactions, Tornado Cash’s smart contracts were deemed beyond the Treasury’s authority, marking a significant legal victory for decentralized protocols and privacy advocates. In 2025, this victory paved the way for the release of Tornado Cash developer Alexey Pertsev, who had been detained in the Netherlands since 2022 on money laundering charges. His release under electronic monitoring to prepare an appeal underscores a growing recognition of developer rights in the crypto space.

Simultaneously, the pardon of Ross Ulbricht, the Silk Road founder, by President Donald Trump has sent ripples through the crypto community. Ulbricht, who had been serving a double life sentence for operating a marketplace that popularized Bitcoin, was freed in a move attributed to Libertarian support during Trump’s campaign. This pardon not only symbolizes a softening stance toward early cryptocurrency pioneers but also underscores the enduring relevance of privacy-focused technologies.

These events set the stage for a broader discussion: Are regulators and governments, including the Donald Trump administration, finally grappling with the reality that privacy coins may be impossible to regulate?

Copenhagen Business School’s Prediction: A Separate Financial System Emerges

In a prescient analysis, Copenhagen Business School’s Associate Professor Rob Gleasure articulated a critical insight into the future of cryptocurrency regulation. He stated, “If these cryptocurrency communities have their own financial system which exists separately, and they become impossible to regulate, then it’s important to understand and understand this early. Once regulators accept it, they can then begin developing new methods to compensate” (source). This prediction is proving remarkably accurate as privacy coins gain traction and defy traditional oversight.

The lifting of Tornado Cash sanctions exemplifies this shift. By recognizing the limits of sanctioning decentralized code, the U.S. judiciary has implicitly acknowledged that privacy-focused systems operate beyond conventional regulatory reach. Similarly, Ulbricht’s pardon by the Donald Trump administration reflects an evolving perspective, suggesting that punishing early adopters of privacy technologies may no longer align with political or societal priorities. These developments indicate that regulators are beginning to heed Gleasure’s call—accepting the existence of separate financial ecosystems and searching for new compensatory strategies.

Have Governments Accepted Privacy Coins as Unregulatable?

The question remains: Have governments, including the Donald Trump administration, truly embraced the reality that privacy coins are here to stay and resist regulation? The evidence is mixed but leans toward cautious acceptance.

The Tornado Cash ruling and Alexey Pertsev’s release in 2025 are landmark acknowledgments that decentralized protocols challenge the scope of governmental authority. By lifting sanctions, the U.S. has signaled that blanket prohibitions may be impractical, paving the way for more nuanced approaches. Likewise, Ulbricht’s release suggests a willingness to reconcile with the crypto community’s roots, where privacy and autonomy were foundational principles.

However, acceptance is not surrender. Governments worldwide continue to invest heavily in deanonymization technologies, particularly targeting privacy coins like Monero. This ongoing battle suggests that while regulators may be adapting to Gleasure’s predicted reality, they are not yet ready to concede defeat. Instead, they are escalating efforts to pierce the veil of anonymity—a race where deanonymization currently holds the upper hand.

The Race Between Deanonymization and Anonymization Intensifies

The struggle between deanonymization and anonymization defines the current state of privacy coins. For now, deanonymization techniques appear to be winning, with Monero facing unprecedented challenges.

Monero Deanonymization: Privacy Under Threat

Monero’s reputation as an untraceable cryptocurrency has been put to the test. In a high-profile case, Japanese authorities successfully tracked Monero transactions to apprehend Yuji Kobayashi, a fraud suspect. This breakthrough demonstrated that even Monero’s robust privacy features—ring signatures, stealth addresses, and Ring Confidential Transactions (RingCT)—are not impervious to sophisticated analysis.

Further compounding Monero’s woes, research from Monero Research Labs revealed critical vulnerabilities. Their findings showed that decoy age distribution issues reduce the effective anonymity set from 16 to as low as 4.2. In simpler terms, the pool of decoy transactions meant to obscure the real one is shrinking, making it easier for adversaries to isolate and trace actual transactions. These developments highlight a stark reality: deanonymization techniques are eroding Monero’s once-ironclad privacy, tilting the race in favor of regulators and investigators.

The Anonymization Fightback with Ryo Currency

Yet, the privacy coin community is not standing idle. As deanonymization advances, so too do anonymization technologies, with Ryo Currency poised to redefine the battlefield with Halo 2 zk proofs and a high-latency mixnet.

Ryo Currency: Taking Privacy to the Next Level with Halo 2 zk Proofs and High Latency Mixnet

Enter Ryo Currency, a next-generation privacy coin engineered to outpace deanonymization efforts. By integrating Halo 2 zero-knowledge proofs by default and developing a high-latency mixnet, Ryo promises to deliver what Monero can no longer guarantee: absolute anonymity.

Halo 2 Zero-Knowledge Proofs: Unbreakable Transaction Privacy

Halo 2 zero-knowledge proofs represent a leap forward in cryptographic privacy. Unlike Monero’s reliance on decoys, Halo 2 allows transactions to be verified without revealing any underlying details—sender, receiver, or amount. This eliminates the vulnerabilities exposed by Monero’s decoy system, rendering transaction tracing mathematically infeasible. By embedding Halo 2 zk proofs as a default feature, Ryo ensures that every user benefits from this cutting-edge protection, setting a new standard for privacy coins.

High-Latency Mixnet: Network-Level Anonymity

Complementing Halo 2, Ryo’s high-latency mixnet tackles another weak point: network-level tracing. While Monero obscures transaction data, it remains vulnerable to traffic analysis that correlates activity across nodes. Ryo’s mixnet obfuscates communication paths by introducing deliberate delays and rerouting, making it nearly impossible to link transactions to specific users or IP addresses. Compared to existing solutions like Tor or VPNs, this high-latency mixnet offers superior anonymity, thwarting even the most advanced deanonymization tools.

Together, these innovations position Ryo Currency as a game-changer. Where Monero struggles against tracing, Ryo’s dual-layered approach—transactional privacy via Halo 2 zk proofs and network privacy via the high-latency mixnet—creates a fortress of anonymity that could prove unassailable.

Conclusion: Privacy in Web 3.0 Triumphs with Ryo Currency

The trajectory of privacy coins is clear. The lifting of Tornado Cash sanctions, the pardon of Ross Ulbricht by the Donald Trump administration, and the release of developer Alexey Pertsev in 2025 validate Copenhagen Business School’s prediction that separate, unregulated financial systems are becoming a reality regulators must accept. As Associate Professor Rob Gleasure foresaw, this acceptance is prompting new regulatory strategies, even as deanonymization efforts intensify.

Monero’s struggles—evidenced by Japanese tracing successes and shrinking anonymity sets—illustrate the current dominance of deanonymization. Yet, this is not the end of the story. Ryo Currency, with its Halo 2 zero-knowledge proofs and high-latency mixnet, is poised to take privacy to an unprecedented level, making tracing virtually impossible.

In this race, privacy in Web 3.0 will ultimately prevail. As governments adapt to the unregulatable nature of these systems and innovators like Ryo push the boundaries of anonymity, the vision of a decentralized, private financial future—once a prediction—is now becoming reality.

Stay tuned to ryo.news for the latest updates on privacy coins, Ryo Currency, and the evolution of Web 3.0.