The right to financial privacy and encrypted information are foundational to the liberal principles of freedom. Yet as the world moves towards becoming a cashless society, we have blundered our way into warrantless financial surveillance. We’ve left a financial fingerprint with nearly every online interaction, and anyone with enough money could paint a picture of your daily life by purchasing (or stealing) these digital ledgers of activity. So while some of us are building tools to reclaim privacy, governments say there’s no justification for citizens to hide their financial activity. When governments want to stop people from deploying and utilizing privacy-preserving software and services, they are treading in authoritarian waters. District attorneys say they want to bring criminals to justice. Regulators argue they need unfettered access to everyone’s transactions. Politicians claim to act in the interest of protecting children and national security. They may try to argue for morals, but their fight against privacy is a masked effort to maintain power. Preserving privacy means giving power back to individuals. Governments are meant to serve people, not the other way around. This is a battle for the future of democracy. We may not know how long it will take, but it’s one worth fighting for, and one we must not lose.