The US Government Sends Mixed Signals on Digital Currency Privacy

<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">To look at the US Government, it is the best of times and the worst of times for personal financial privacy. </span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">On the one hand, in</span> <a href= "https://www.coindesk.com/us-financial-crimes-watchdog-preparing-significant-crypto-rules-warns-treasury-secretary-mnuchin"> <span style="font-weight: 400;">comments</span></a> <span style= "font-weight: 400;">before the Senate Financial Services Committee, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin says that FINCEN is planning more strict regulations around anti-money laundering and crypto. </span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">At the same time, the CEO of DropBit was</span> <a href= "https://www.coindesk.com/ohio-resident-charged-with-laundering-311m-in-bitcoin-for-alphabay"> <span style="font-weight: 400;">arrested</span></a> <span style= "font-weight: 400;">on money laundering charges around a bitcoin mixing service he ran between 2014 and 2017. </span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">In this new enforcement regime, one of the government’s major</span> <a href= "https://www.coindesk.com/inside-chainalysis-multimillion-dollar-relationship-with-the-us-government"> <span style="font-weight: 400;">partners</span></a> <span style= "font-weight: 400;">is Chainalysis, who have seen more than $10m in Federal agency contracts since 2015. </span></p> <p><br /> <span style="font-weight: 400;">Yet privacy advocates are also surprisingly enthused by</span> <a href= "https://www.coindesk.com/could-a-digital-dollar-compete-on-privacy-fed-chairman-powell-hints-it-might"> <span style="font-weight: 400;">comments</span></a> <span style= "font-weight: 400;">from Fed chair Jerome Powell, who suggested in testimony to Congress that any potential US digital dollar would need to be privacy preserving.</span></p>