BitMEX co-founder Arthur Hayes has revealed that Zcash (ZEC) is now his largest crypto holding outside Bitcoin, framing privacy coins as the single most asymmetric opportunity in today’s market. Hayes confirmed he has been actively selling Bitcoin to buy Zcash through his fund Maelstrom, a move that underscores just how convicted he is. His reasoning centers on a thesis that few in the crypto media have explored deeply: AI-powered surveillance is making blockchain transparency a liability, not a feature.

In a May 13 interview on the Unchained podcast, Hayes argued that artificial intelligence, big tech platforms, and government agencies have reached a point where stripping anonymity from public blockchain transactions is almost…