The governments and states are stepping more on people's privacy and rights. Here is another example that CipherTrace in cooperation with US government files a patent to be able to trace Monero transactions: https://cointelegraph.com/news/privacy-coins-no-more-ciphertrace-files-patents-for-tracing-monero-transactions
I think altcoin projects who work on privacy protection and anonymity is a promising trend and will be one of the most very popular ones. What do you think?