A Call for Privacy-Preserving Innovation and Law

[johnblockbuster]

Financial surveillance has left many feeling “guilty until proven innocent.” Yet DeFi was born from a different vision—one where individuals hold their own keys and control their own data. This tradition traces back to 1990s cryptographers like Phil Zimmermann, who warned that privacy would erode without new protections.

Today, Americans clearly want privacy-preserving technologies. Congress can respond by modernizing data-collection rules, dropping overbroad measures like FinCEN’s “mixer rule,” and shielding developers who build privacy tools from ill-fitting registration and prosecution. If the U.S. truly wants to be a beacon of freedom, it must defend the natural right to privacy in the digital age.

[Nahid Hossen]

DeFi’s roots in cypherpunk ideals remind us it’s about self-custody and privacy, not surveillance.

[Abdul Khan]

Zimmermann’s warnings from the ’90s feel more relevant than ever as financial oversight expands.