SEC Chairman Paul Atkins spoke very frankly at a cryptocurrency roundtable.
He acknowledged that there is not a zero-sum game between national security and personal privacy, and that there is a path that can accommodate both. But the premise is that the instinct of regulation cannot run amok. Because blockchain is highly efficient in terms of "related transactions and identity," if the direction is misguided, cryptocurrency may evolve into the strongest financial surveillance system in history.
His warning actually points to an extreme scenario:
If the government treats every wallet as a broker, views every software as a trading platform, defines every transfer as a mandatory reporting activity, and considers every protocol as a natural surveillance node, then this ecosystem will ultimately turn into a financial version of a panoramic prison.
This is not opposition to regulation, but a reminder of boundaries.
Technology itself is neutral, but institutional design determines whether it is a tool or a shackle.
Atkins's position is very clear:
Innovation can be regulated, but not at the expense of personal freedom. A truly mature framework is not about "seeing everything," but knowing when not to look.
The significance of this statement is that it has placed "privacy risk" on the regulator's own desk for the first time.
What the market will observe next is not the attitude, but whether this vigilance will truly be reflected in the rules. $BTC
