U.S. SEC Commissioner: 'Beware of Extensive Government Surveillance of Virtual Assets'

JH Kim

Summary

Paul Atkins, Commissioner of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), said caution is needed over the possibility that federal government financial surveillance could be strengthened in the process of regulating the virtual asset industry.
He said that if regulators treat all transactions, wallets, and software as subjects of surveillance, the ecosystem could be transformed into a 'financial panopticon.'
Atkins emphasized that discussions on virtual asset regulation should consider the possibility of privacy infringement as well as investor protection and market order.

On the 15th (local time), according to crypto-focused U.S. media CoinDesk, Paul Atkins, Commissioner of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), warned that the federal government's extensive financial surveillance could be strengthened in the process of regulating the virtual asset (cryptocurrency) industry and that caution is needed.

Atkins said at a "Financial Surveillance and Privacy" roundtable recently held at SEC headquarters, "It is not hard to imagine a situation where, through virtual asset technologies, the government, working with various intermediaries, looks into almost every aspect of an individual's financial life."

He argued that if regulators try to treat every wallet like a broker, every piece of software like an exchange, every transaction as reportable, and every protocol as a surveillance node, "the government would remodel this ecosystem into a 'financial panopticon (an all-encompassing surveillance system).'"

Atkins reportedly emphasized that discussions on virtual asset regulation should consider not only investor protection and market order but also the potential for privacy infringement.