The DeFi Education Fund (DEF) and Blockchain Association (BA) have jointly filed an amicus brief supporting a challenge to the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) Consolidated Audit Trail (CAT) program.
The CAT aims to create a centralized database of all securities trades in U.S. markets, but it raises unprecedented privacy concerns for digital asset market participants.
According to a press release by the Blockchain Association, the CAT program, which seeks to create a centralized database of all securities trades in the U.S., could expose digital asset transactions to extensive scrutiny.
1/ Today, we, along with @fund_defi, filed an amicus brief supporting a challenge to the SEC’s Consolidated Audit Trail – or CAT – program, highlighting the unprecedented privacy concerns raised by CAT. pic.twitter.com/na4CzB0BDG
— Blockchain Association (@BlockchainAssn) August 22, 2024
“The CAT program’s sweeping surveillance of personal financial data, including potentially sensitive blockchain transactions, is a significant overreach that threatens to normalize invasive government oversight of our everyday lives,” said Blockchain Association policy counsel Laura Sanders.
“Left unchecked, initiatives like CAT can quietly erode our constitutional rights. The crypto community stands firm against such excessive financial surveillance regimes and urges lawmakers to recognize the broader implications of this particular project.” said Sanders.
The amicus brief argues that the CAT’s extensive reporting requirements could potentially link personally identifiable information with blockchain wallet addresses, exposing users’ past, present, and future transactions to unprecedented scrutiny.
The crypto community stands firm against such excessive financial surveillance regimes, urging lawmakers to recognize this project’s broader implications1.
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