SEC Chair Warns Crypto Could Become a ‘Financial Panopticon’ Without Privacy Safeguards
- SEC Chair Paul Atkins warned that blockchain could enable mass financial surveillance if privacy protections are not built into regulation.
- Atkins said regulators must balance national security obligations with individuals’ rights to conduct lawful financial activity privately.
- He argued that privacy-preserving crypto tools could support compliance while avoiding a “financial panopticon.”
Without appropriate guardrails, blockchain technology could be repurposed into a sweeping system of financial surveillance, according to US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chair Paul Atkins. Addressing the SEC Crypto Task Force’s sixth roundtable, Atkins said the rapid transparency enabled by public…
