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The Financial Aftermath of 9/11

As the world looks back on one of the worst tragedies of the 21st century, it’s important to remember 9/11′s long-lasting aftereffects: increased financial surveillance and exclusion.

Updated May 11, 2023, 6:38 p.m. Published Sep 13, 2021, 4:52 p.m.

9/11 was a human tragedy of staggering proportions.

This weekend America honored and mourned the first responders, office workers, airline passengers and others who lost their lives 20 years ago.

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As the world looks back on one of the most consequential events of the 21st century, it’s important to remember 9/11′s long-lasting aftereffects – a reminder that emergencies can make for knee-jerk policy and unforeseen consequences.

These lingering effects include the increased mass surveillance and tightening of anti-money laundering rules under the USA Patriot Act and the toll these measures took on privacy, financial inclusion and innovation.

The added compliance burden raised the barriers to entry in financial services, further discouraging competition and strengthening incumbents with scale to offset the costs.

Meanwhile, as Shoshanna Zuboff argues in her book “The Age of Surveillance Capitalism,” the national security establishment’s thirst for ever-more private data dovetailed with Silicon Valley’s desire to mine it for profit.

Bitcoin, cryptocurrency and the Web3 movement can all to varying degrees be seen as reactions to these historical forces that undermined the liberating promise of the early internet.

Below are some relevant reads, representing a wide variety of perspectives published in CoinDesk over the years.

How FinCEN Became a Honeypot for Sensitive Personal Data

The Crypto Community Must Use the Blockchain to Self-Police

Tucker Carlson Is Right About Financial Privacy

US National Security Advisor: Bitcoin Needs to Be Understood, Not Feared

No, Secretary Summers, Financial Privacy Is a Vital Freedom

A World Where Privacy and Saving Lives Can Coexist

State of Crypto: The US Government Keeps Mentioning Terrorism

‘They Starve’: The Ugly Side of the US’ KYC-AML Obsession

‘Radical Indifference’: How Surveillance Capitalism Conquered Our Lives

The Crypto-Surveillance Capitalism Connection

There’s a Bigger Scam Than Anything in Crypto, It’s Called KYC/AML

There’s a Huge Opportunity for Everyone in Crypto, It’s Called KYC/AML

Note: The views expressed in this column are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of CoinDesk, Inc. or its owners and affiliates.

9/11 AML Bank Secrecy Act Regulation Opinion

Marc Hochstein

As Deputy Editor-in-Chief for Features, Opinion, Ethics and Standards, Marc oversees CoinDesk's long-form content, sets editorial policies and acts as the ombudsman for our industry-leading newsroom. He is also spearheading our nascent coverage of prediction markets and helps compile The Node, our daily email newsletter rounding up the biggest stories in crypto. From November 2022 to June 2024 Marc was the Executive Editor of Consensus, CoinDesk's flagship annual event. He joined CoinDesk in 2017 as a managing editor and has steadily added responsibilities over the years. Marc is a veteran journalist with more than 25 years' experience, including 17 years at the trade publication American Banker, the last three as editor-in-chief, where he was responsible for some of the earliest mainstream news coverage of cryptocurrency and blockchain technology. DISCLOSURE: Marc holds BTC above CoinDesk's disclosure threshold of $1,000; marginal amounts of ETH, SOL, XMR, ZEC, MATIC and EGIRL; an Urbit planet (~fodrex-malmev); two ENS domain names (MarcHochstein.eth and MarcusHNYC.eth); and NFTs from the Oekaki (pictured), Lil Skribblers, SSRWives, and Gwar collections.