Why so many coins? Examining the demand for privacy-preserving cryptocurrencies

We investigate the impact of anonymity and privacy-preservation on cryptocurrency use. We find that privacy coins, which deploy advanced privacy-preserving technologies to enhance trader anonymity, experience a relative increase in usage compared to non-privacy coins following regulatory interventions aimed at countering illegal activities in cryptocurrency trading and use. However, the adoption of privacy coins decreases relative to non-privacy coins after the introduction of regulations restricting the use of privacy-preserving protocols. These findings underscore the significance of privacy as a driving factor in cryptocurrency adoption.