Dash Monero Anoncoin ShadowCash ZeroCash Other (please specify by replying)
What makes a crypto not anonymous as they are all just merely public keys/numbers?
It's anonymous when destination address & the amount sent are not seen by anyone. Zcash, Monero are anonymous by default.
However for Dash, you can specify whether your transaction is private or public.
Komodo is a forked version of Zcash. And Zcash implements zero-knowledge proofs which are known to protect recipient's anonymity however, there are some debates about that, http://www.coindesk.com/investors-know-trading-zcash/
If you want to learn more about other coins, check out http://coingenius.io
Dash provides some anonymity features, but are generally opt-in (i.e there are certain transaction types which provide more anonymity, but they are not required). Even with "anonymous" transactions on Dash, I believe only the sender/receiver can be somewhat masked, but the amounts are not masked entirely.
Monero provides pretty anonymous transactions which have gotten better with it's recent introduction of Ring Confidential Transactions, which makes it so that new transactions have (by default, and to be enforced later this year for all Transactions) hidden amounts, sender, and receiver.
ZCash is arguably the most anynomous, as it has hidden amounts, sender, and receiver from the ground up, but comes with a bit more risk since it is essentially based on entirely new, and as yet unproven, crypto (zkSnarks). It is an exciting promise for the future, but it also required a "trusted" setup of a random seed which, if compromised by any party, could enable infinite, undetectable inflation of the ZCash currency.
In short, there is no perfect anonymity, everything is a scale and a spectrum of security, and what type of guarantees you can get around the anonymity properties you want.
ZCash also personally takes a cut of the mining, if I remember correctly, but that's not part of the anonymity.
Coinbase now requires 'selfies'!
Shows Monero in better light!
For an explanation of why Bitcoin is not anonymous, take a look at the recent Keybase post on adopting ZCash:
"Zerocash, the protocol that succeeded Zerocoin, is being developed into a full-fledged digital currency, Zcash."
Not to say zcash is perfect and alternatives are imperfect. There are pros and cons to each.