SEC Sets December Roundtable on Crypto Surveillance and Privacy

The Securities and Exchange Commission will reopen the debate over crypto privacy as it prepares to host a public roundtable in Washington. The event marks the agency’s first focused discussion on financial surveillance tools since its earlier October meeting was postponed.

SEC Reschedules Privacy Roundtable After Funding Delay

The SEC confirmed that its Crypto Task Force will hold the roundtable on Dec. 15, 2025, at its headquarters on 100 F St. NE in Washington, D.C. The session will run from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. ET, and registration is limited to in-person attendance. The agency will also webcast the meeting for broader public access.

Crypto Task Force Roundtable. Source: SEC

The event was originally planned for October but was delayed after a lapse in federal appropriations paused non-essential agency operations. Once funding returned, the SEC moved the session to mid-December and began reopening registration for participants. The updated schedule aligns with the agency’s broader review calendar for digital asset oversight through the end of the year.

The SEC said it will release the full list of panelists and the detailed agenda soon. It stated that the roundtable aims to collect technical input from companies building privacy-preserving systems, researchers studying digital identity frameworks and policy experts examining cross-border data rules. The agency noted that the conversation is intended to inform its ongoing examination of how privacy tools interact with financial regulations.

Discussion Will Examine Crypto Privacy Technologies and Surveillance Needs

The roundtable will focus on the policy trade-offs between financial surveillance requirements and privacy protections used across the crypto sector. According to the SEC’s description , the discussions will address technologies that support anonymity while still meeting anti-money-laundering and compliance standards. These include zero-knowledge systems, selective disclosure tools and privacy-layer networks used by both public blockchains and institutional systems.

The agency has recently increased scrutiny on privacy solutions after several enforcement actions involving mixers, anonymizing services and privacy-focused developers. The upcoming roundtable will provide experts with a platform to explain how privacy infrastructure works and where it fits within existing regulatory frameworks. Officials plan to evaluate whether current rules sufficiently address emerging privacy models or whether new guidance is needed.

The SEC also expects the conversation to cover digital identity, transaction-level reporting requirements and the operational challenges faced by developers working on privacy products. It emphasized that the roundtable is not a rulemaking session but an information-gathering forum meant to support future policy decisions. As the use of privacy-enhancing tools expands among retail users, institutions and cross-border payment platforms, regulators continue to assess how to balance innovation with enforcement obligations.

Crypto Industry Watches for Signals Ahead of Broader Regulatory Moves

Crypto companies are monitoring the roundtable closely because it arrives during a period of increased regulatory attention on wallet surveillance, blockchain analytics and privacy-preserving payments. Several industry groups have been calling for clearer guidance on how developers can build privacy-focused applications without facing enforcement uncertainty. The December meeting offers one of the first public venues this year where that debate will play out directly with the SEC.

At the same time, policymakers have been examining financial monitoring standards as digital asset adoption widens. The roundtable’s agenda signals an interest in understanding how privacy technologies operate at scale and how these systems can support compliant transactions. Industry participants are expected to highlight real-world use cases that require privacy, including enterprise settlement networks, cross-border transfers and institutional custody operations.

The SEC’s decision to webcast the event indicates that it expects heightened interest from both domestic and international audiences. With privacy and surveillance at the center of several ongoing court cases and legislative proposals, the discussion is likely to influence the broader regulatory landscape heading into 2026. Further updates will be released once the agency publishes the full list of speakers and session details.