Note: Regulators are taking new actions again.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has suddenly announced that it will hold a special roundtable on December 15—specifically focusing on privacy coins and financial surveillance. This is not your usual industry networking event; SEC senior officials will personally participate and sit down face-to-face with representatives of privacy technologies from the crypto space to discuss a core issue head-on: How can privacy protection and regulatory compliance be balanced?

The guest list for this meeting is worth noting. Zooko, the founder of Zcash and a veteran in the privacy coin field, will be present. Aleo’s CEO, Koh, will also attend; this company specializes in zero-knowledge proof technology and has significant influence in the privacy computing sector. In addition, there will be a policy analyst from the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), the CEO of the Blockchain Association, and several executives from privacy tech companies. The moderator will be Aleo’s Global Head of Policy. It’s a heavyweight lineup.

What will they discuss? To put it simply—users want to protect their transaction privacy, but regulators worry this could become a hotbed for money laundering. Unless this contradiction is resolved, the legitimacy of privacy coins, mixers, and similar tools will remain in limbo.

The background is actually quite real. Developers of Tornado Cash have been arrested, the Samourai Wallet team has also faced regulatory crackdowns, and the entire privacy sector has been under significant pressure in the past two years. Now, with the SEC proactively holding this meeting, it shows to some extent that they recognize the objective existence of privacy needs—an outright ban is unrealistic. But how to establish a regulatory framework without a complete free-for-all? That’s the true focal point of this meeting.

For the crypto market, this dialogue could send out some signals...