SEC commissioner Hester Peirce defends crypto privacy and open-source development

Key Points

1. Hester Peirce defends the right to financial privacy and open-source development, stating that crypto users and developers should not be unfairly targeted.

2. Roman Storm, co-founder of Tornado Cash, faces charges for operating an unlicensed money-transmitting business, with a potential 40-year prison sentence.

3. Peirce argues that non-custodial protocols like Tornado Cash should not be treated as traditional financial businesses, criticizing the now-defunct DeFi broker rule.

4. The DeFi broker rule, proposed under the Biden administration and later struck down, would have required DeFi protocols to disclose user data and report to the IRS.

5. Peirce warns that denying financial privacy through surveillance is harmful to a free society and urges lawmakers to avoid overregulation of crypto infrastructure.