DEX in the City: How Privacy in Crypto Makes Everyone's Finances More Secure - Ep. 982

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Dec 18, 2025

Jill Gunter, co-founder and Chief Strategy Officer at Espresso Systems, brings her expertise in blockchain infrastructure to the forefront. In a compelling discussion, she shares insights from a recent SEC roundtable on privacy in crypto, marking a shift in regulatory attitudes. Jill recounts a personal experience of losing $30K in a crypto exploit, reinforcing her commitment to privacy without fear of disclosure. They explore how crypto can enhance security for traditional finance and discuss the complex implications of Do Kwon's sentencing.

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INSIGHT

Legacy Finance Drives Onchain Privacy Needs

Tokenization of legacy assets increases demand for privacy to prevent market abuse.
Banks and asset managers need secrecy for competitive trading strategies onchain.

ADVICE

Use Programmable Risk Management

Design systems so confidentiality and accountability reinforce each other using programmable risk management.
Implement selective disclosure and encrypted audits to preserve privacy while enabling investigations.

ADVICE

Match Privacy Tools To Use Case

Builders should evaluate appropriate cryptographic tools from a spectrum rather than adopt a single mandated solution.
Use the paper's appendix to match tools to protocol goals and user needs.

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The SEC this week held a roundtable on financial surveillance and privacy in another sign of the major shift in the regulator's approach to crypto.

In this DEX in the City episode, Espresso co-founder Jill Gunter joins hosts Jessi Brooks and Katherine Kirkpatrick Bos to unpack the major talking points and takeaways from the roundtable. And more importantly, what it signals about the SEC’s approach to crypto and privacy.

With legacy financial institutions coming onchain, like JPMorgan and DTTC, they discuss how crypto can actually help prevent data breaches and have a better product for users and companies alike.

Interestingly, Jill recounts how she lost $30,000 in an exploit involving crypto mixer Railgun and why she didn’t even try to hide it from regulators at the roundtable.

Plus, was Do Kwon's sentence excessive? Well, according to Jessi, it’s a complicated question, but she unpacks what people misunderstood about the judge’s decision.

Hosts:

Jessi Brooks, General Counsel at Ribbit Capital
Katherine Kirkpatrick Bos, General Counsel at StarkWare

Guest:

Jill Gunter, Co-founder and Chief Strategy Officer at Espresso Systems

Links:

Unchained:

Jessi's and Katherine's paper on programmable risk management

Timestamps:

🚀 00:00 Introduction

⚡️ 3:23 How SEC privacy roundtable marks a sea change in the regulatory approach to crypto

💡 12:39 Why privacy is also important for legacy institutions moving onchain

📍 17:31 How projects and institutions can be compliant while collecting less data

🤧 24:57 Jill recounts being the victim of a hack and seeing the hackers use a privacy protocol

❕️ 30:36 Why Jill says the hack did not change her perspective on crypto privacy

😎 33:30 How far the crypto industry has come since Tornado Cash

⚔️ 35:54 The debate over proof of innocence

⚖️ 42:09 What everyone misunderstood about Do Kwon's sentence

💫 52:24 Shoutout to Save the Children for their innovative Bitcoin initiative

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