Hester Peirce: mass KYC collection builds honeypots that get crypto holders phished, hacked, and physically attacked. Her answer: zero-knowledge proofs - verify without exposing anyone.
Meanwhile, SDNY is retrying Roman Storm in April 2027 - on the theory that he committed a crime by NOT building one of those honeypots.
The government's own expert,
AnChain.AI's Philip Werlau, told the jury Tornado Cash needed a "user registry": a list of authorized users, with logins "like Gmail, Spotify." On cross he admitted it "could have collected personal identifying information."
When the defense asked whether hackers target exactly such databases, prosecutors objected. Sustained. The jury never heard the answer.
Surveillance is privacy.
Free Roman Storm.
Study the case. Read the docket. See for yourself how bad this precedent is.
Make some noise. This case is a threat to every developer and every user who values privacy. The more people know, the harder it is to get away with.