Bitcoin has a very bad privacy problem. There are ways around it with swaps and Lightning, but the base layer is an open ledger.

We also know changing Bitcoin at the protocol level is nigh on impossible these days, and that isn't always a bad thing.

Shielded Bitcoin is interesting because in theory it could be live and opt in on Bitcoin as it is. The normal wallet experience, with Zcash-level privacy on top for whoever wants it.

Still holes in it. Worth watching.

https://ungovernable.network/shows/bitcoin-brief/did-bitcoin-just-go-dark/