A contributed article recently published on the Forbes website indicated that The US Secret Service is requesting the consideration of “additional legislative and regulatory action related to anonymity-enhanced cryptocurrencies.” The article quotes Thomas Ott from FinCEN who indicated that billions of dollars of cryptocurrencies have been used for “suspicious activity.” It should be noted that the article does not indicate that any of these activities were connected with Zcash. In fact, it further quotes Ott as saying that “traditional methods remain the primary vehicle for most illegal activity…”

The Zcash company mission is to empower everyone with economic freedom and opportunity. To that end, the company has focused efforts to help build and support Zcash, a privacy-protecting, digital currency built on strong science. It was created precisely to protect the privacy rights of law-abiding citizens and guard them against harm by bad actors.

We believe it is in the best interest of the citizens of the United States, the US Secret Service, and other governmental organizations to also advocate for those rights and protect its citizens and businesses from harm.

Governments have already broadly recognized citizen’s data and financial rights through legislation including the EU’s GDPR and the United States’ Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act.

Earlier this year, the New York Department of Financial Services (NYDFS) issued a press release explaining their decision to grant Gemini custodial and listing services for Zcash. In the release the NYDFS states that, “Virtual currency license applicants are subject to a rigorous review of anti-money laundering, capitalization, consumer protection and cyber security standards.”

As with NYDFS, we support FinCEN’s approach in applying AML/KYC controls at the point of exchange between fiat and digital currency, and stand ready to assist the Secret Service, FinCEN and other regulatory bodies through technology education.

We applaud a measured and thoughtful approach to considering regulation in support of the best interests of the good people it intends to protect.