it was not hype it was because the reward was very low like 1 per coin, and the daily supply was also low, therefore it was easy to buy all coin available on the market which mean that the price must be very high
"look no further than this article by Cryptocoins News. 2017 will see tax authorities take advantage of Bitcoin's failed anonymity promise and pave the way for Zcash to show the world why encryption and privacy are the future of financial systems. "
"the interest from regulatory bodies and governments. As a consequence, privacy will more and more become a focus for cryptocurrencies. Bitcoin and similar players will lose considerable market share as privacy-centric currencies like Zcash will receive more attention."
i'm not 100% with you on this, because you know bitcoin can be very anonymous if you want, just use a mixer or don't reveal your name when you do a transaction, if you don't reveal your name, who care if you can track back my address? we are all anonymous here until you reveal me in real life