Balaji Srinivasan, author of 'The Network State' and former CTO of Coinbase, predicts that 2025–2030 will mark the era of global privacy infrastructure in the crypto industry. Speaking on a recent podcast, Srinivasan outlined a three-phase development cycle for the sector, identifying 2009–2017 as the period proving Bitcoin's viability and 2017–2025 as the rise of Ethereum and on-chain programmability. Srinivasan emphasized that the upcoming phase will focus on zero-knowledge proofs (ZK), which will drive innovations like ZKYC, ZK DEX, and ZK smart contracts. These technologies will ensure that only the minimum necessary information is exposed, fundamentally transforming finance, regulation, and digital identity infrastructure. He highlighted that ZK technology, comparable in depth to AI, will attract top talent and reshape the industry.