SEC Commissioner Hails Crypto Privacy Tools, Calling Them Legitimate Financial Infrastructure

According to Cointelegraph, SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce has publicly defended cryptocurrency privacy tools, saying this kind of technology is a legitimate financial infrastructure, and reminding regulators that they should not view crypto tools that enhance privacy with suspicion.
This statement comes from Peirce’s recent remarks in an interview with reporters, in which she pointed out that crypto privacy tools are not “criminal tools,” but a reasonable component of modern financial infrastructure.
She cites transaction anonymization technologies used by projects such as Monero and Zcash, explaining that such technologies can help ordinary users defend against attacks by hackers and scammers, and also allow users to independently control their own financial information, reducing the risk of data leakage.
She also stressed that protecting financial privacy does not conflict with national security goals. While it is certainly important for the government to crack down on crime, the public’s right to protect their personal information about their lives should not be overlooked either, and privacy technology should not be treated as an excuse to expand government surveillance.
Peirce also urged developers of crypto privacy tools to proactively collaborate with the SEC’s crypto task force to jointly explore technical solutions that can meet anti-money laundering (AML) and know-your-customer (KYC) compliance requirements, without excessively exposing users’ personal data.
The backdrop for this initiative is that crypto privacy tools are once again becoming a regulatory focus. On the one hand, institutional-level privacy applications such as Aptos’s enterprise privacy coin and Polygon’s institutional stablecoin payment solutions are gradually rolling out.
On the other hand, regions such as the European Union are moving forward with new regulations set to take effect in 2027, which are intended to limit the use of privacy cryptocurrencies; this series of actions shows that the regulatory contest surrounding the crypto industry and privacy tools is continuing to escalate.
In summary, Peirce’s stance—as a core member of the SEC’s crypto task force—has also released a regulatory signal to the market of “prioritizing innovation and not being hostile.”
However, worldwide, there are still differences among various parties on the regulatory direction for crypto privacy tools, and how subsequent policies will be implemented is worth continued attention from the industry.
#SEC委员 #加密隐私工具