US SEC Chairman: Cryptocurrency Could Become a "Powerful Financial Surveillance" Tool, But Not at the Expense of Privacy

BlockBeats News, December 16, according to The Block, Paul Atkins, Chairman of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), stated that he believes there is a path forward that balances national security concerns with the protection of individual privacy, but also warned that excessive government intervention could tip the scales too far. On Monday, at the sixth cryptocurrency roundtable of the SEC's Special Cryptocurrency Task Force, Atkins reminded that blockchain is particularly efficient at linking transactions to senders, and if misdirected, cryptocurrency could "become the most powerful financial surveillance architecture ever created."

Atkins said: "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 surveillance node, then the government will turn this ecosystem into a financial panopticon." However, Atkins stated that there are ways to balance innovation and privacy protection. Atkins said: "I firmly believe that together we can build a framework that ensures technological progress and financial development do not come at the expense of individual freedom."