The SEC Privacy Roundtable and the Split Between Zcash and Monero
On December 6, 2025, the SEC's Crypto Task Force announced a four-hour roundtable on financial surveillance and privacy for December 15. CryptoSlate called it a "do-or-die" meeting for Zcash and privacy protocols because the core question was brutal and simple: can developers be personally liable for privacy code they write?
That was not alarmism. By then, Tornado Cash prosecutions had already shown that the answer was no longer an automatic no.
This article looks at what the roundtable changed, what the Tornado Cash cases already changed, and why Zcash and Monero now sit in different regulatory positions.
Why This Roundtable Was Different
The SEC has held crypto roundtables before. Most focus on securities law, stablecoins, or exchange rules. This one hit a different nerve. It asked whether writing open-source privacy code can make a developer answer for crimes committed by strangers.
That is bigger than crypto. It is a software liability question. It is also a speech question. And because Tornado Cash developers had already been prosecuted, it was no longer abstract.
The Tornado Cash Precedent
Tornado Cash was an Ethereum smart contract that let users break the public transaction trail. It was open source and non-custodial. Its developers argued they could not control user behavior after deployment. In August 2022, the US Treasury sanctioned the Tornado Cash contract addresses. That move pushed sanctions law into new ground.
Two developers became the test cases.
This was the backdrop for the SEC roundtable. For Electric Coin Company and the Zcash Foundation, both real legal entities, developer liability was immediate. For Monero, the structure is different, but the question still matters.
What Atkins Actually Said
SEC Chair Paul Atkins said crypto infrastructure "could become a powerful financial surveillance tool." That was unusually direct. It admitted that the system being built now could lock in long-term financial visibility over ordinary users.
He also said there is "a path forward without giving up privacy." That line mattered most. Zcash supporters took it as a sign the SEC was not looking for a ban. The likely path is selective disclosure, where users can reveal transaction data to specific parties without exposing it to everyone.
Zcash has that feature. Viewing keys let users disclose transaction history to an auditor, regulator, or compliance team without making it public. That is the main reason Zcash can fit into a regulatory model that Monero cannot fit by design.
The Monero answer is different. Its community does not want privacy that depends on an approved disclosure path. That makes the legal future rougher, but the technical stance is clear.
Zcash vs Monero: Different Regulatory Profiles
The split comes down to architecture and structure.
Technically: Zcash has shielded and transparent transactions. That gives regulators a hook. They can point to transparent use as the compliant lane and push for disclosure around shielded use. Monero does not offer that. Privacy is not a mode. It is the system.
Organizationally: ECC is a Delaware company. The Zcash Foundation is a nonprofit. Both can be subpoenaed, pressured, or asked to change tooling. Monero has no comparable center. No corporation. No executive team. No office to visit.
The Developer Liability Question Going Forward
The Tornado Cash cases tested a blunt theory: if a developer writes and deploys a privacy protocol knowing criminals will use it, that developer can be part of a money laundering conspiracy.
The answer against that theory is simple. A lot of general software can help criminals. PGP can hide messages. TorThe Tor network uses onion routing to obscure IP addresses and browsing paths by relaying traffic through multiple volunteer-run nodes.Glossary → can hide browsing. VPNs can hide network paths. We do not normally charge the developers of those tools for what strangers do with them. The Pertsev verdict suggests financial privacy software may be treated differently, at least in some courts.
For Zcash developers, the roundtable was a chance to argue that ECC and the Zcash Foundation are building a lawful privacy tool, not helping criminals. Whether that case holds will depend heavily on how Roman Storm's case ends and what the SEC decides to formalize.
What Users Should Know
The practical picture in early 2026 looks like this:
- No ban is close. Zcash and Monero are both legal to hold, trade, and use in the United States.
- Exchange access will keep shrinking. More regulated platforms may delist privacy coins to lower their own exposure.
- P2P routes still work. Haveno DEX and RetoSwap sit outside the regulated exchange track.
- Zcash may get a compliance lane. Selective disclosure gives regulators something they can work with. Monero is not built for that.
- Developer liability is not settled. Roman Storm's case is still one of the clearest signals to watch.
The Bigger Picture
Atkins' line about a "powerful financial surveillance tool" matters because it strips the issue down. The system being built can watch users, and the real fight is over who controls that power and what limits exist.
Zcash and Monero answer that problem in different ways. Zcash bets privacy can survive inside a compliance model through selective disclosure. Monero bets that privacy only works when it is mandatory and non-negotiable.
The December 2025 roundtable did not settle that argument. It just made the lines harder to miss.
Related Guides
- Zcash vs Monero: Privacy Comparison 2026
- Correction: Monero Never Hit $687
- How to Buy Monero Without KYC
- Five Eyes Jurisdiction and Financial Privacy
- DOGE and Financial Surveillance
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Follow the Money
SEC enforcement creates demand for compliance work. The revolving door between regulators and that industry keeps the incentives aligned.
- Revolving door
- Gensler moved through MIT and back to the SEC. Atkins moved through Patomak Global Partners and back to the SEC in 2025.
- SEC enforcement
- Total penalties since 2013: $4.68B. DOJ crypto enforcement budgets add more spending power.
- Who benefits
- Chainalysis, TRM Labs, and Elliptic win when compliance screening becomes harder to avoid.
- Asymmetry
- Privacy projects pay to defend themselves while compliance firms keep billing.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Zcash going to be banned in the US?
No ban on Zcash looks close in the US. At the December 2025 roundtable, SEC Chair Atkins said there is a path forward that does not require giving up privacy. That points to a compliance framework, not prohibition. Zcash also has selective disclosure features that regulators can work with more easily than Monero.
What is the SEC's position on Monero in 2026?
The SEC has not issued a Monero-specific statement. The December 2025 roundtable dealt with privacy protocols in general and focused more on Zcash. Because Monero has no company or formal entity behind it, pressure usually shows up through exchange delistings and access limits rather than direct negotiation.
What happened to the Tornado Cash developers?
Alexey Pertsev was convicted in the Netherlands in 2024 and sentenced to 5 years and 4 months. Roman Storm, his US-based co-developer, faced federal charges in the United States. Both cases turned on a hard question: when does writing open-source privacy code become criminal liability for how other people use it?
Are privacy coin developers at legal risk for writing code?
Yes, that risk is real. The Tornado Cash cases showed that prosecutors are willing to test that theory. The main questions are whether a developer knew about criminal use, helped it along, and whether the software had clear lawful uses. The EFF and ACLU argued in Roman Storm's case that this approach threatens open-source development far beyond crypto.
Is it still legal to use Monero in the US in 2026?
Yes. Monero is legal to own and use in the United States. The IRS treats it as property. No US law bans owning or spending XMR. Exchange delistings are compliance choices, not criminal bans, and P2P acquisition through tools like Haveno or RetoSwap remains legal.