U.S. SEC Chairman: Cryptocurrency could become a "powerful financial surveillance" tool, but without sacrificing privacy

According to The Block, SEC Chairman Paul Atkins stated that he believes there is a path forward that balances national security concerns with personal privacy protection, but he also warned that excessive government intervention could tip the scales too far. On Monday, during the sixth cryptocurrency roundtable of the SEC's cryptocurrency special working group, Atkins reminded that blockchain is particularly efficient at linking transactions to senders, and if the direction is misguided, cryptocurrencies could "become the most powerful financial surveillance architecture in history."

Atkins stated, "Indeed, if the government's instinct is to treat every wallet as a broker, every piece of software as a trading platform, every transaction as a reportable event, and every protocol as a convenient monitoring node, then the government will turn this ecosystem into a financial panopticon." However, Atkins noted that there are ways to balance innovation and privacy protection. Atkins said, "I firmly believe that we can work together to build a framework that ensures technological advancement and financial development do not come at the expense of personal freedom."