Crypto Privacy Tools Serve 'Essential Protective Functions'

ChangeNOW, a non-custodial crypto platform, and CoinRabbit, a digital asset management platform, published a report arguing that crypto privacy tools perform "essential protective functions," restoring a measure of financial privacy that conventional banking has always offered. Titled "Financial Privacy in the Digital Age," the paper builds on data from TRM Labs, Chainalysis, RAND Corporation and the two platforms' internal research.

Confidentiality is the default at any bank. A public ledger gives that up, and the report argues the industry has not counted the cost of the trade. The report's case rests on what a public ledger shows. Wallet activity is readable by anyone. The report details what that means for sanctioned citizens and for companies holding crypto on their balance sheets. Individual holders, it argues, face a separate set of threats that extend from scams to robbery.

What a Public Wallet Address Reveals

The report's first example is Iran. When the country was cut off from SWIFT, ordinary citizens lost the ability to receive foreign payments or collect family remittances, while the political class kept alternative rails, the authors write. Sanctions, the authors argue, fall hardest on the people least able to influence the conduct being punished. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has said Operation Economic Fury seized about $1 billion in Iranian crypto, including a single $344 million USDT freeze on Tron.

Corporate treasuries face a quieter version of the same exposure. Anyone holding a company's wallet address can reconstruct vendor relationships, payment frequencies, estimated payroll and supply chain dependencies, data that stays confidential at any bank. Statista research cited in the paper puts the share of board members worried about internal data becoming public at 36%. The average breach costs $4.44 million, that research found.

The sharpest personal risk is physical. CertiK counted 52 verified wrench attacks in the first half of 2026, so-called because thieves coerce victims into handing over keys or funds under threat of violence. The attacks exposed $124.1 million, nearly 12 times the H1 2025 figure. France accounted for 33 of them. Breaches at France Travail and ANTS let attackers match home addresses to suspected crypto holdings, and French prosecutors have since charged 88 people, more than 10 of them minors.