- Bitcoin Policy Institute, Fedi and Cornell’s Brooks School Tech Policy Institute will run a two‑year study of American attitudes on financial privacy.
- The study will use both quantitative surveys and qualitative interviews and will publish four semi‑annual reports starting April 2026.
- Public concern about data use is rising, with a 2023 Pew Research Center survey showing increased worry about government data handling.
- Developers of privacy tools face legal pressure after criminal cases involving non‑custodial services, a trend that has raised fears of liability for code authors.
- Lawmakers are being urged to protect non‑custodial developers, with industry groups seeking “robust, nationwide protections” as the crypto market structure bill moves through debate.
The Bitcoin Policy Institute, wallet provider Fedi and Cornell’s Brooks School Tech Policy Institute announced a joint two‑year study to measure how Americans view financial privacy, what trade‑offs they will accept and how regulation affects behavior. The project will produce four semi‑annual reports, with the first due in April 2026, and aims to supply empirical evidence for policy debates; details of the initiative appear in a Fedi blog post.
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.
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