SEC’s Hester Peirce Defends Crypto Privacy Amid Tornado Cash Trial

- SEC Commissioner links financial privacy to constitutional safeguards. - Remarks coincide with growing regulatory focus on crypto privacy tools. On August 5, 2025, SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce, known as "crypto mom," highlighted the critical need for financial privacy within the cryptocurrency ecosystem while speaking at a blockchain conference. According to The Block, she urged the U.S. government to uphold an individual's right to private financial transactions and advocated for supporting self-custody technologies, grounding her arguments in constitutional privacy principles. Drawing a parallel between the digital asset space and the Fourth Amendment’s protection against unreasonable searches, SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce said at the August 5 conference, “We should take concrete steps to protect people’s ability not only to communicate privately but to transfer value privately, as they could have done with physical coins in the days in which the Fourth Amendment was crafted.” She further asserted that the privacy traditionally associated with physical cash should extend to cryptocurrencies. Peirce’s remarks come as the SEC advances its "Project Crypto" initiative, which responds to the fast-evolving digital asset market. Her emphasis on privacy is particularly noteworthy amid the ongoing trial of Roman Storm, a co-founder of Tornado Cash, who faces allegations that he conspired to commit money laundering and violate sanctions through the crypto mixing service. His trial has sparked debates about balancing individual financial privacy with regulatory enforcement. While acknowledging the need to combat illegal activities, Peirce cautioned against regulations that infringe on personal financial privacy, warning that such measures could erode fundamental freedoms. Her speech resonated with the cryptocurrency community, and many applauded her advocacy for privacy as a cornerstone of emerging financial technologies. According to CoinMarketCap, data from 14:00 UTC on August 5 showed Bitcoin (BTC) trading at $29,378, reflecting a 0.7% increase in 24-hour trading volume, while Ethereum (ETH) traded at $1,872, marking a 1.2% uptick.