Or are they worried about the idea of a future where their spending is transparent?

Excellent point. Here in the US, we have payoffs to government officials on the local, state, and national levels.

I like the idea of a Bitcoin like currency with 100% transparency in universal use. Privacy is important to me, but if everyone on earth had access to all financial transactions that would help stop corruption. Use case: turning my personal software agent to free to evaluate candidates in upcoming elections, not invest in companies if I dislike who they do business with, etc.

There are many ways to evade such a system already. For example, one of our ex-PMs didn't get any money from a certain company; they just paid €25M to another guy, who was such a friend that he paid for the ex-PM's home, hired his wife and driver, bought thousands of copies of his book, etc.

Wow, he sounds like a really great guy! Everyone needs a friend like that.

Like zcash?

Monero is a more likely candidate for the winner in this category.