BPI Fedi and Cornell Launch Two-Year Financial Privacy Study

The researchers will mix large‑scale surveys and in‑depth interviews to track attitudes and changes over time, and will pay special attention to everyday transactions and institutional trust, according to the project description. BPI posted related materials about the study on social media.

Public concern about data practices is already rising. A 2023 Pew Research Center survey found 71% of U.S. adults were very or somewhat concerned about government use of collected data, and many said they understood little about corporate data handling.

The study comes as governments explore central bank digital currencies and digital identity frameworks, a development tied to broader questions about preserving or reshaping financial privacy in the digital era, noted in a policy review on digital identity and privacy.

Legal pressure on privacy‑focused crypto developers has increased after criminal cases against non‑custodial services such as Samourai Wallet and Tornado Cash, outcomes that have raised fears developers could face liability for code alone. At the same time, industry groups have urged Congress to include “robust, nationwide protections” for non‑custodial builders in the market structure bill. Variant chief legal officer Jake Chervinsky framed DeFi as his “red line” and warned that, without clear safeguards, a regulator could try to “kill DeFi”. The study aims to inform these regulatory discussions with data.