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- Senate Finance committee addressed the Trump administration’s plans for greater surveillance on cryptocurrency users.
- The Treasury’s intention for intrusive surveillance has got the world’s attention.
- It is also very important to know any future proposals that will affect the privacy and freedom of association.
Steven Mnuchin, the U.S. Treasury Secretary, mentioned his concerns regarding the surveillance of cryptocurrency users. Steven Mnuchin, before the Senate Finance committee, addressed the Trump administration’s plans for greater surveillance on cryptocurrency users.
He also said that crypto was a very important area and the Treasury Department had to exam it. He said that the Treasury is now working with FinCEN and will be making new regulations that will make increase transparency to help law enforcement track where the money is going and make sure that it is not being laundered.
Even though we haven’t seen any draft proposals as of now, the Treasury’s intention for intrusive surveillance has got the world’s attention. If the cryptocurrencies are put under surveillance, it could be a tool for complete financial surveillance. This will largely affect the open ledger protocols such as Bitcoin.
The cryptocurrencies create an unerasable public list of transactions and should such a wallet be associated with individuals, it could link a huge number of transactions which can be very revealing.
It can expose anything from your social network to your sexual interests and can make all of it very easy to track. Researchers have proven that such a system is not a theoretical risk.
Law enforcement has, for a long time, has been looking to be able to track financial transactions to aid in investigations. But this isn’t the only way law enforcement can track financial transactions. There are laws that already give access to law enforcement to be able to access the financial records of individuals.
Before adding any new such laws, it is very crucial to look at the existing laws which already access to law enforcement. It is also very important to know any future proposals that will affect the privacy and freedom of association.
It is vital to know if and how these regulations will affect any budding blockchain projects and if yes, then how. The future regulation must not threaten these innovations before they have a foothold.
Some federal officials are also highlighting these points, and the need for privacy should such a system be put in place. Rather than killing cash, we must find ways to bring the best attributes of cash into the future in a digital way.
