SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce speaks on privacy and permissionlessness at Pubkey

Yesterday, SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce sat down with NYDIG founder Ross Stevens for a Fireside chat with New York City-themed Bar Pubkey.

The two traversed many topics during the discussion, including why you need to have permissionless networks and assets like Bitcoin and why transaction privacy should be the right of U.S. citizens.

Peirce did not speak sarcastically during the discussion, but she also spoke in nuanced and thoughtful ways, as she answered not only Stevens’ questions, but also listeners’ questions during the Q&A session.

No permission

At the beginning of the speech, Pierce highlighted the fact that Bitcoin is a tool for the freedom fighter, part of a broader topic of why permissionless technologies like Bitcoin are crucial.

She said she often wondered what it would be like if someone like Harriet Tubman had Bitcoin.

Stevens raised a question about the president of the United States issued an executive order that authorized the government to confiscate Bitcoins from U.S. citizens, such as the Executive Order, to enable the government to seize gold from U.S. citizens in 1933.

Pierce admits: “In the United States, executive orders like 6102 are still possible,” and believes we must be on guard against allowing such a thing to happen again.

“To protect ourselves from such influences as Executive Orders, we must reaffirm the founding principles of the United States and hold the government accountable for these principles,” the Commissioner said.

Stevens added that certain traits of Bitcoin, such as the ability to store its own seed phrases in a person’s mind, make it more resistant than gold, and thus can better retain free technology. (The topic of having actual Bitcoin or holding your own Bitcoin private key is to embrace the true nature of Bitcoin as a license-free technology rather than a means of Bitcoin exposure through live Bitcoin ETFs, or through custodians in many aspects of the discussion.

During the discussion, Peirce stressed the importance of the U.S. government continuing to see code as speech, a topic that Stevens raised and wrote extensively.

“It’s important as a regulator that we think of code as voice,” Peirce said.

“Otherwise, developers will have to check with the government before they release it,” she added. She also noted that developers must do so could kill and undermine their ability to release open source software.

About Privacy

Halfway through the speech, Stevens asked Peirce if Americans should use cryptocurrency mixers freely.

Before commenting directly on the matter, Peirce talked more broadly about the concept of financial privacy and seems to be unwilling to most U.S. citizens.

“To me, it’s worth noting, and few people care about financial privacy,” Pierce said. “This is the individual who is how you spend money, and we’ve ceded a lot of privacy.”

Regarding the crypto mixer, Peirce said she believes Americans have the right to use this technology.

“In this country, there should be a presumption of innocence,” she said. “Technology that allows you to do things on the chain but also keeps privacy is really important.”

Thomas Pacchia, the owner of the bar, stressed the dangers of the Bank Secrecy Act (BSA), as the owner of the bar, Thomas Pacchia, stressed that users asked users to hand over large amounts of personal data to financial institutions and asked about the chances of a day to look at the bill.

Peirce agrees with Pacchia that financial institutions hold data from large amounts of customers pose a great risk, but points out that the idea of ​​abolishing the BSA is a deeply controversial point in Washington, D.C.

“If there is a lot of information about you in centralized financial institutions, bad things can happen, but due to fears that bad actors will pour in, this is the third railroad in Washington, D.C., talking about the Bank Secrecy Act,” Perles said.

Listen attentively

Peirce has repeatedly stated that the most recent time was in Bitcoin 2025, and she believes that the U.S. government works for the American people.

It is obvious that this is not only a hot air or a point of conversation, but it is evidenced by the fact that she hears carefully the questions raised and how much she considers the answers to the above questions.

For example, I asked Peirce Commissioner if it is possible that it will eventually be possible to see a physical redemption of a spot Bitcoin ETF for retail investors.

While she admitted it was “unlikely,” she provided me with some space to make reasons why I was important and ended my communication with me by saying she “give me more thoughts.”

She responded to Stevens and members of each listener who raised a question of the same kind of concern and consideration, which seemed appreciated when she raised the legal right to hold Bitcoin keys and trade it privately.

Peirce also seems to be genuinely worried about ensuring regulators don’t hinder Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies from fulfilling their promises as free technology, yet another alternative to traditional financial and monetary systems.

“I’m worried that if we do things the wrong way, we’ll make a difference,” Pierce concluded.