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Report argues crypto privacy tools aid sanctions, corporate and personal safety
The report says TRM Labs estimates 2025 illicit inflows at $158 billion, with 84% of fraud proceeds moving over stablecoin rails.
A new report from ChangeNOW and CoinRabbit argues that crypto privacy features and compliance do not have to be a zero-sum trade-off, pointing to enforcement leverage at fiat off-ramps.
According to the report, crypto privacy can play protective roles including enabling civilian access under sanctions, preserving corporate confidentiality, and reducing exposure to physical coercion when data is exposed on conventional public blockchains.
The report cites examples such as Iran being cut off from SWIFT, which it says limited ordinary citizens ability to receive foreign payments, buy imported goods, and collect remittances, while political actors retained alternative rails. It also references U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, who said Operation Economic Fury seized about $1 billion in Iranian crypto, including a single $344 million USDT freeze on Tron.
ChangeNOW and CoinRabbit also highlight operational risks from public-chain transparency, including the ability to reconstruct vendor relationships, payment timing, and supply chain dependencies from company wallet addresses. The report cites Statista research that 36% of board members worry internal data could become public, with average breaches costing $4.44 million, and it says CertiK recorded 52 verified wrench attacks in the first half of 2026 exposing $124.1 million, nearly 12 times the H1 2025 figure. It adds that CoinRabbit internal research found roughly half of surveyed high-net-worth holders faced targeted social engineering within three years, and 30% use data-broker removal services to break the link.
The report also argues that scammers and attackers can use transparency to identify high-value targets, reinforcing its contention that privacy tools can provide essential protective functions in situations where TradFi often already offers privacy.