SEC’s Hester Peirce Advocates for Crypto Privacy Protections Over Restrictions

SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce, known as 'Crypto Mom,' championed financial privacy in a speech at the Science of Blockchain Conference. She criticized the current surveillance-heavy financial system, highlighting how the Bank Secrecy Act has turned banks into unwitting law enforcement agents.

Peirce pointed to the staggering volume of transaction reports—25 million in 2024 alone—as evidence of an overreaching surveillance state. She emphasized how privacy-preserving technologies like zero-knowledge proofs and DeFi protocols can reduce reliance on intermediaries while maintaining transparency.

The commissioner's peanut butter and watermelon analogy illustrated the value of disintermediation. 'A bank that might discriminate in lending gives way to DeFi protocols offering equal access,' she noted, underscoring crypto's potential to create fairer financial systems.