there are a few methods of obfuscating the movements of funds that do not sound like "mixers".. but if you read any of the "privacy"/"mixer" topics on this forum, you do not see much discussion about innovating new tools to bypass regulated lists. instead you see mixer operators screaming that everyone should use their service more..
Why we need to find a new tools if mixer is the best way? there are many ways to protect privacy using Bitcoin, each way has it's pros and cons
Your options to having privacy in Bitcoin - and their tradeoffs Using a mixer and DEX are enough to make you stay private, except you're want to laundering your tainted coins where you need a sort of agreement.
and using a privacy coin will actually make your transactions more open, remembering that there is no such thing as a privacy coin because when the government forces developers to open access to their backdoors then they have to comply with this, like the sec did with monero.
Where did you read this? I have never read Monero developers give access or changing the code in order to comply with the regulations.
SEC did crackdown Monero, but it's only delisted from centralized exchanges.