a16z Crypto: zk-SNARKs can balance privacy protection and law enforcement needs.

[Coin World] According to reports, the venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), through its investment division focused on Crypto Assets, pointed out that modern encryption technologies such as zk-SNARKs can both protect user privacy and enable law enforcement to effectively combat criminals.

In a report released on Tuesday, Aiden Slaven, policy partner at a16z Crypto, and regulatory legal advisor David Sverdlov stated that zk-SNARKs can verify the authenticity of data without disclosing any detailed private information. They believe that this technology has the "greatest potential" by demonstrating the source of funds while not requiring the disclosure of private information.

This report was released just two weeks after Roman Storm, the co-founder of a certain mixing service, was found guilty. The mixing service allows users to hide the sources and destinations of their Crypto Assets, while Roman Storm was convicted of conspiracy to operate an unlicensed remittance business and other charges.

In this case, law enforcement and the prosecution argued that mixing services assist criminal activities by providing means to hide illegal gains.

Slaven and Sverdlov stated in the report: "If users can provide such proof when exchanging Crypto Assets for fiat currency, then cash exchange points can gain reasonable assurance that the Crypto Assets do not originate from criminal proceeds, while users can also retain the privacy of their on-chain transactions."