In brief – A new report from ChangeNOW and CoinRabbit argues that crypto privacy and compliance are not a zero-sum trade-off, with enforcement leverage sitting at fiat off-ramps. – It documents protective uses including civilian access under sanctions, corporate confidentiality…
d defense against physical coercion. – The report also cites TRM Labs putting 2025 illicit inflows at $158 billion, with 84% of fraud proceeds moving over stablecoin rails. Crypto privacy tools serve “essential protective functions” that restore a measure of financial privacy that has always existed in TradFi, according to a new report from non-custodial crypto platform ChangeNOW and digital asset management platform CoinRabbit
Building on data from sources including TRM Labs, Chainalysis, RAND Corporation and the authors’ own internal research, the report highlights the risks of data exposure on conventional public blockchains. They include financial access under economic sanctions and authoritarian governance, corporate sovereignty as firms transition to blockchain infrastructure, and individual security in the face of scam attempts and “wrench attacks.” What privacy protects Sanctions fall hardest on the people least able to influence the conduct being punished, the report argues. When Iran was cut off from SWIFT, ordinary citizens lost the ability to receive foreign payments, buy imported goods and collect family remittances, while the political class kept alternative rails.
U.S. 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 different exposure.