Massive Privacy Bill Kills SEC's Stock Tracker, Bans Digital Dollar, and Requires Congress to Vote on All Major Rules

The aptly named Saving Privacy Act is a massive piece of legislation that essentially redraws the lines between your personal financial data, the government's ability to watch transactions, and how federal agencies can create new rules. If this bill passes, it’s going to fundamentally change how financial surveillance and regulation work in the U.S.

Warrant Required: Your Bank Records Get a Fourth Amendment Upgrade

Starting with the good news for your privacy, this bill is a major win for anyone who feels the government has too easy access to their bank statements. The bill significantly strengthens the Right to Financial Privacy Act of 1978 (RFPA). Under Title I and Title II, government agencies generally cannot access your financial records without a proper search warrant (Section 1106). Even better, the bill explicitly adds a new constitutional guardrail, stating that no access can be granted if it violates the Fourth Amendment, which protects against unreasonable searches.

This means the government can’t just use a subpoena or an administrative summons—the standard tools today—to rummage through your bank records. They need to go to a judge and show probable cause, just like they would to search your house. This is a huge shift back toward constitutional privacy protection for digital financial data.

The Trade-Off: Less Financial Surveillance

However, this privacy boost comes with a massive trade-off for law enforcement and financial oversight. The bill completely guts the Bank Secrecy Act (BSA), which is the primary tool the government uses to fight money laundering, terrorism financing, and sanctions evasion. Title I strikes out nearly a dozen key sections of the BSA, including most of the specific reporting and record-keeping requirements (e.g., sections 5313, 5314, 5315, 5324).

What does this mean in practice? The mechanisms that force banks to file Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs) and Currency Transaction Reports (CTRs)—the paperwork that flags criminals moving large amounts of cash—are largely removed. While this reduces compliance costs for financial institutions, it drastically impairs the ability of agencies like the FBI, DEA, and Treasury to trace illicit funds. For the average person, this might not seem immediate, but less oversight means a potentially easier environment for large-scale financial crime, which eventually impacts the stability of the system.

Ending the SEC’s Stock Tracker and Banning Centralized Data

Title III targets the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Consolidated Audit Trail (CAT)—the massive database designed to track every single stock and options trade in the U.S. market. The bill mandates that the SEC must shut down the CAT completely within 30 days. Furthermore, it prohibits the SEC or any other federal agency from creating a new centralized database that collects personally identifiable information (PII) on U.S. citizens unless a specific, newly passed law explicitly authorizes it.

If you’re concerned about government surveillance of your investments, this is a major victory. But for market regulators, this is a huge loss. The CAT was designed to help the SEC spot market manipulation and flash crashes instantly. Eliminating it removes a critical tool for market surveillance, potentially making it harder to catch insider trading or protect retail investors from large-scale fraud. For those who paid fees to fund the CAT, the bill requires the operating entities to reimburse those fees within one year.

No Digital Dollar and Protecting Your Crypto

Title IV takes a strong stance against a Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC), often called a “digital dollar.” It prohibits the Federal Reserve or the Treasury from issuing a CBDC directly to individuals or holding individual accounts. This is aimed at preventing the government from having direct insight into or control over individual spending habits through a digital currency system.

Similarly, Title VIII (The Keep Your Coins Act) prevents any federal agency from restricting a person’s ability to use convertible virtual currency (like Bitcoin or Ethereum) to purchase goods or services for personal use. It also protects the use of self-hosted wallets, ensuring that the government cannot easily block you from controlling your own digital assets. If you use crypto for anything from buying coffee to paying for online services, this provision protects your ability to do so without federal interference.

The REINS Act: Congressional Approval for Major Rules

Perhaps the most significant structural change is in Title V, which completely overhauls how federal agencies make rules. It essentially implements a version of the REINS Act, requiring Congress to pass a “joint resolution of approval” before any “major rule” can take effect.

A “major rule” is defined as one that has an annual economic effect of $100 million or more, or one that significantly increases costs or negatively affects competition, jobs, or investment. If an agency issues a major rule, Congress has about 70 legislative days to approve it. If they don't, the rule is automatically killed.

This shifts immense power from the executive agencies (like the EPA or OSHA) back to Congress. While proponents argue this increases accountability, it could also cause significant regulatory paralysis. Imagine a new air quality standard or a mandatory workplace safety rule that costs $150 million to implement nationally. Under this bill, that rule is dead in the water unless Congress—which is often gridlocked—explicitly votes to approve it. This could dramatically slow down the government's ability to respond to emerging crises or enforce new standards.

Finally, the bill also rolls back a recent tax headache in Title VII: the 1099-K reporting threshold for third-party payment processors (like Venmo or PayPal) is returned to the original standard of $20,000 in payments AND 200 transactions. This means if you use those apps for casual selling or side hustles, you won’t get a 1099-K unless your activity hits both of those high marks, a welcome relief from the lower thresholds recently implemented.