BRUSSELS, Belgium (PNN) - November 11, 2025 - Cash bans. Crypto crackdowns. State-run digital money. This isn’t a dystopian pitch or a leaked memo. It is law and it goes live in just over 400 days.
By 2027, the European Union (EU) will have completed the most invasive overhaul of its financial system in modern history. Under Regulation (EU) 2024/1624, cash transactions above €10,000 will be illegal - no matter if it is a private sale, a used car or a family heirloom.
“Persons trading in goods or providing services may accept or make a payment in cash only up to an amount of EUR 10 000 or the equivalent in national or foreign currency, whether the transaction is carried out in a single operation or in several linked operations which appear to be linked.” - Regulation (EU) 2024/1624, Article 80, paragraph 1
Simultaneously, the Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCA) forces all crypto service providers to implement full-blown surveillance via mandatory identity verification and reporting. An anonymous Bitcoin transfer? That window is closing. Rounding out the trifecta is the European Central Bank’s digital euro, which promises privacy - just not too much of it.
This isn’t a proposal. It is happening. If you think it is just about catching criminals then you haven’t been paying attention.
The justification, as always, is safety. European officials cite €700 billion in annual money laundering as the reason for the crackdown, framing the new rules as a bold stand against crime and corruption. What they are building isn’t a net; it is a cage. These laws don’t distinguish between a cartel kingpin and a retiree who prefers cash. They treat every transaction like a threat, every citizen like a suspect, and every private interaction as a problem to be solved by surveillance.
The State says it needs these tools to protect you; but what happens when the definition of “threat” changes? What happens when dissent gets categorized as extremism, or economic independence becomes “suspicious activity”? History shows us that surveillance infrastructure never stays in its lane. It metastasizes; and once it is built, it rarely gets dismantled.
Just ask Roman Storm, the open-source developer who now faces decades in prison for helping create Tornado Cash, a decentralized tool that lets people transact privately on Ethereum. The Fascist Police States of Amerika (FPSA) didn’t accuse him of stealing, hacking or laundering money. Instead, it claimed he violated anti-money laundering laws by writing code the State doesn’t like. Anti Money Laundering rules, sold to the public as tools to stop terrorists and child traffickers, were used to criminalize peaceful software development. The very laws now forming the backbone of Europe’s 2027 financial reset have already been used in Amerika to destroy lives; not to stop crime but to punish independence.
That is why privacy coins like Zano are no longer optional, they are essential. It is also why they are currently skyrocketing. Zano doesn’t ask for permission. It doesn’t report to a central authority. It doesn’t compromise privacy for compliance. It exists because systems like the one Europe is building were always the endgame: forced traceability, programmable money, and total visibility for the people at the top, while the rest of us beg for the right to transact in peace.
Make no mistake: this trend isn’t stopping at the EU’s borders. The FPSA is already rehearsing its own version, complete with CBDC trial balloons, stablecoin freezes, and Know Your Customer (KYC) mandates that mirror everything MiCA just codified. Europe is just ahead of the curve, and that curve leads to a place where financial autonomy is a relic of the past.
But you’re not powerless. You don’t have to wait for permission to exit the system. Voluntaryist solutions are already here. Privacy-focused crypto. Decentralized networks. Peer-to-peer alternatives. Community barter. Every tool you use to sidestep the financial dragnet is a vote against tyranny, and a step toward something better.
The answer isn’t protest. It’s exit. It’s building a parallel system where money belongs to the individual, not the state, and where privacy isn’t a loophole.
So no, this isn’t just another regulation. This is a test. Will you comply with a system designed to watch, limit, and eventually own you? Or will you opt out before the lock clicks into place?
Because once your money becomes theirs, so does everything else.