SEC’s Peirce: Government Should Protect Crypto Privacy, Not Restrict It

Key Points

1. Hester Peirce describes the current financial system as a surveillance state, citing the Bank Secrecy Act and the SEC's Consolidated Audit Trail as examples of excessive monitoring.

2. Peirce highlights privacy-protecting crypto technologies like zero-knowledge proofs and mixers as solutions for transparent, equal access without discrimination.

3. She argues against requiring peers to surveil each other in transactions without intermediaries, calling it antithetical to freedom.

4. SEC Chair Paul Atkins announces 'Project Crypto,' aiming to ensure financial innovation thrives in America and reviewing plans to move financial markets on-chain.

5. The White House is preparing an executive order to penalize banks that block crypto investors and companies, reversing previous policies.