US SEC Chairman: Cryptocurrencies could become a powerful tool for financial surveillance, but not at the expense of privacy.

According to Foresight News , citing The Block, U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chairman Paul Atkins stated that he believes there is a way forward that balances national security concerns with the protection of individual privacy, but excessive government intervention could tip the scales. If misdirected, cryptocurrencies could become the most powerful financial surveillance architecture ever. "If the government's instinct is to treat every wallet as a broker, every piece of software as a trading platform, every transaction as a reportable event, and every protocol as a convenient monitoring node, then the government will turn this ecosystem into a financial panopticon. I believe we can work together to build a framework that ensures technological progress and financial development do not come at the expense of individual freedom."