SEC’s Hester Peirce Defends Crypto Privacy, Slams Financial Surveillance

Pro-crypto SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce, known as "Crypto Mom," delivered a robust defense of financial privacy at the Science of Blockchain Conference. She criticized outdated regulations like the Bank Secrecy Act, which has turned banks into surveillance tools, generating millions of transaction reports annually.

Peirce highlighted the intrusive nature of current financial surveillance, including the SEC’s Consolidated Audit Trail, which tracks all investor trades without suspicion. She compared crypto privacy to the anonymity of cash transactions, warning against forcing open-source protocols to comply with surveillance laws.

Her remarks underscore the tension between regulatory oversight and the foundational privacy principles of blockchain technology. The speech signals growing institutional recognition of crypto’s role in preserving financial autonomy.