Hester Peirce, Commissioner of the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and head of the SEC’s Crypto Task Force, has reaffirmed the right to independent crypto stewardship and privacy in financial transactions.
“I am a maximalist of freedom,” Peirce told The Rollup podcast on Friday, while saying that self-care over property is a fundamental human right. She added:
“Why should I have to be forced to go through someone else to keep my property? It baffles me that in this country, which is so based on freedom, that would even be a problem – of course people can keep their property.”
Peirce added that online financial privacy should be the standard. “It’s become an assumption that if you want to keep your transactions private, you’re doing something wrong, but it should be the exact opposite assumption,” she said.
The comments came after the Digital Asset Market Structure Clarity Act, a crypto market structure bill that includes provisions for self-custody, anti-money laundering (AML) regulations and an asset taxonomy, was delayed until 2026. according to Senator Tim Scott.
Related: The SEC will hold a roundtable on privacy and financial oversight in December
Exchange-traded funds (ETFs) challenge bitcoin’s ethos of self-care
Many large bitcoin (BTC) whales and long-term holders are switching from self-custody to ETFs to take advantage of the tax benefits and hassle-free management of cryptocurrency ownership in an investment vehicle.
“We are witnessing the first self-sustained decline in Bitcoin in 15 years,” Dr. Martin Hiesboeck, head of research at crypto exchange Uphold, he said.
Hiesboeck attributed the shift to the SEC approving the creation and redemption of in-kind crypto ETFs in July, allowing authorized holders to exchange crypto for ETF shares and vice versa without triggering a taxable event, unlike cash-settled ETFs.
“The move away from the ‘not your keys, not your coins’ self-care mantra is another nail in the coffin of the original crypto spirit,” Hiesboeck added.
In February, well-known Bitcoin analyst and investor PlanB, a BTC stock-to-flow development model, announced that he had shifted his Bitcoin into ETFs to alleviate the “hassle” of private key management.
Plan Bs announcement caused an outcry in the Bitcoin community as many expressed concern that handing custody over to a third party conflicted with Bitcoin’s core values.
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