Name: In Foreshadowing Cryptocurrency Regulations, U.S. Treasury Secretary Prioritizes Law Enforcement Concerns
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In Foreshadowing Cryptocurrency Regulations, U.S. Treasury Secretary Prioritizes Law Enforcement Concerns

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Email updates on news, actions,and events in your area.DEEPLINKS BLOGShare ItU.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin the Trump administration’s plans for greater surveillance of cryptocurrency users during his testimony before the Senate Finance Committee on Wednesday. He that cryptocurrency was a “crucial area” for the Treasury Department to examine, and said:We are working with FinCEN and we will be rolling out new regulations to be very clear on greater transparency so that law enforcement can see where the money is going and that this isn’t used for money laundering.While we haven’t seen any draft proposals at this point, Mnuchin’s call for greater transparency—a euphemism for intrusive surveillance— definitely got our attention. One of the real risks of cryptocurrency is that it could become a technology of financial surveillance, especially in the case of open ledger protocols such as Bitcoin. These are cryptocurrencies that create unerasable, public lists of transactions that, should a pseudonymous wallet ever be associated with an individual person, can potentially link together a huge number of financial transactions. And those transactions can be deeply revealing, pointing to everything from your friend network to your sexual interests to your political affiliations. Indeed, researchers haveLaw enforcement has long been interested in having access to financial records during investigations. But law enforcement access isn’t the only value, let alone the most important value, regulators need to solve for. There are already laws that regulate financial institutions that hold and exchange funds (including cryptocurrencies) for consumers, and offer pathways for law enforcement seeking to learn about transactions. Before adopting new regulations in this space, it’s vital that the U.S. Treasury and others first ask:EFF has been watching the evolution of privacy-enhancing technologies such as privacy coins and decentralized exchanges. While not widely used today, these technologies hold the potential to bring some of the privacy-preserving attributes all of us already enjoy with cash into the digital world. It’s vital that future regulation doesn’t threaten these innovations before they’ve had a chance to find a foothold.We appreciate that some federal officials are highlighting a need for privacy when commenting on cryptocurrency policy. Earlier this week, Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell spoke to the House of Representatives Committee on Financial Services. When asked whether the Fed had visibility into China’s efforts to develop a state-run digital currency, Powell that China is “in a completely different institutional context. For example, the idea of having a ledger where you know everybody’s payments, that’s not something that would be particularly attractive in the United States context. It’s not a problem in China.”While we don’t share Powell’s impression that financial surveillance in China is “not a problem,” we appreciate that he understands that Americans won’t stand for a system of complete financial surveillance.As regulators and lawmakers consider the challenges we face around cryptocurrencies, we urge them to work closely with the human rights and civil liberties communities. We are concerned about a future in which every financial transaction is captured and saved forever, creating a honey pot for malicious hackers and law enforcement as well as a chilling government shadow over every purchase or donation. For thousands of years, societies around the world have thrived with privacy-preserving cash. Rather than be the generation that kills cash, we encourage the Treasury Department and other federal officials to think about ways we can bring the best attributes of cash into our digital future.Share ItThe U.S. (OFAC)'s of “Tornado Cash” as an entity on the raises important questions that are being discussed around the world. OFAC explained its sanction by saying “Tornado Cash (Tornado) is a virtual currency ...Podcast Episode 108Your friends, your medical concerns, your political ideology— financial transactions tell the story of your life in intimate details. But U.S. law has failed to protect this sensitive data from prying eyes. Join EFF’s Cindy Cohn and Danny O’Brien as they talk to Marta Belcher, one of the...We have an amazing opportunity to join the EFF team.We are hiring a , a position that is a public advocate helping to establish EFF as a leader in the civil liberties implications of decentralizing the Internet. You’ll help chart a course for EFF to have...The Electronic Frontier Foundation, Fight for the Future, Defending Rights and Dissent and 13 other organizations sent to Senators Charles Schumer (D-NY), Mitch McConnell (R-KY), and other members of Congress asking them to act swiftly to amend the vague and dangerous digital currency provision of Biden’s infrastructure...The forthcoming Senate draft of Biden's infrastructure bill—a 2,000+ page bill designed to update the United States’ roads, highways, and digital infrastructure—contains a poorly crafted that could create new surveillance requirements for many within the blockchain ecosystem. This could include developers and others who do not control digital...While Turkey last week with a ban on paying for items with cryptocurrency, the government of India appears to be moving towards outlawing cryptocurrency completely. An unnamed senior government official last month that a forthcoming bill this parliamentary session would include the...On Thursday, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency its Fair Access to Financial Services rule, which will prevent banks from refusing to serve entire classes of customers that they find politically or morally unsavory. The rule is a huge win for civil liberties, and for the...Today, EFF submitted comments to the Department of the Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) opposing the agency’s proposal for new regulations of cryptocurrency transactions. As we explain , financial records can be deeply personal and revealing, containing a trove of sensitive information about people’s personal lives,...One of the most important aspects of cryptocurrencies from a civil liberties perspective is that they can provide privacy protections for their users. But EFF is concerned that the U.S. government has been increasingly taking steps to undermine the anonymity of cryptocurrency transactions and importing the widespread financial surveillance of...Coinbase has released its , and we’re encouraged to see the company take this first step and commit to issuing future reports that go even further to provide transparency for their customers. Last month, we —one of the largest cryptocurrency exchanges in...Share It

Email updates on news, actions,and events in your area.DEEPLINKS BLOGShare ItU.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin the Trump administration’s plans for greater surveillance of cryptocurrency users during his testimony before the Senate Finance Committee on Wednesday. He that cryptocurrency was a “crucial area” for the Treasury Department to examine, and said:We are working with FinCEN and we will be rolling out new regulations to be very clear on greater transparency so that law enforcement can see where the money is going and that this isn’t used for money laundering.While we haven’t seen...

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In Foreshadowing Cryptocurrency Regulations, U.S. Treasury Secretary Prioritizes Law Enforcement Concerns

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