DeFi Education Fund
@fund_defi
Nonpartisan, nonprofit advocating for sound DeFi policy & to protect software developers.
DeFi Debrief:
318 Following 17.3K Followers
#ThisWeekInCrypto#: Americans want more control over their money.
A new @fund_defi and @ipsosus study found that less than half trust the existing financial system. And 22% of Americans say they've owned crypto, with Republicans and Democrats within a few points of each other.
Get ready for Election Day on Nov. 3.
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Americans don't believe TradFi is secure. Spooky.
Have you dug into our new @Ipsos "State and Future of Finance" research yet?
Today, @a16zfrontier, @fund_defi, and @uniswap stepped into the fight against the Illinois Digital Asset Tax Act.
The law is already one of the most anti-innovation bills in the country—a tax on transactions just because they're digital.
Now, it's being made worse through politicized rulemaking that goes well beyond what the law approved—the draft rules would treat many decentralized exchanges (DEXs) as tax-collecting brokers.
That approach isn't possible to comply with: autonomous software is not a person that can collect a tax. The approach also conflicts with the U.S. Treasury Dept’s classification of DEXs and Illinois’ own Digital Assets and Consumer Protection Act.
The rules also tax Illinois resident's when there isn't even a transaction. That’s like being taxed for moving money from your checking account to your savings account.
Consumers and entrepreneurs in Illinois deserve better.
Fortunately, @CCI and @BlockchainAssn are also challenging the Act in court and will have the entire law thrown out. Until then, we must press Illinois to stop playing politics and to follow its own laws.
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Illinois’ proposed digital asset tax rules could have serious consequences for DeFi, self-custody, and crypto users. Today, @fund_defi, @a16z, and @Uniswap submitted a letter urging Illinois regulators to reconsider several aspects of the proposal. Illinois should not impose obligations on software that it cannot possibly satisfy or penalize users for exercising control over their own assets. Our comments, featured in @Politico this AM, urge the Department to preserve the distinction between actual financial intermediaries and non-custodial infrastructure, protect self-custody, and align its rules with federal law. 🧵
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@star_okx We agree. We invite you and anyone who cares about onchain security to join Open Protocol Security Coalition:
Have you explored our new @ipsosus research yet?
In today’s Crypto for Advisors newsletter:
🟡@jenn_rosenthal of @fund_defi on the opportunity new survey data points to for advisors as clients look beyond traditional finance
🟡@djwindle on why younger investors are more open to alternative financial systems
Edited by @MortonInsights. Dive in 👇
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🇺🇸 ONLY 1 IN 5 AMERICANS BELIEVE THE US FINANCIAL SYSTEM IS SECURE
A DeFi Education Foundation survey found:
• 19% believe the US financial system is secure
• 63% say it needs an upgrade to combat emerging threats
• 54% worry financial institutions aren't prepared to protect their personal information from AI threats
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Crypto voters don’t sort into red and blue, and new research from @fund_defi shows it.
@jenn_rosenthal makes the case: Republicans and Democrats are asking for the same thing: clear rules that let crypto innovation happen here.
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New survey from @fund_defi shows that 74% of Americans say financial privacy is important to them.
Most Americans don't trust the current financial system. And among Americans open to DeFi, 85% would use it to save money.
Americans are open to alternatives for everyday finance.
New DEF x @Ipsos research:
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DEF and @ipsosus asked Americans how they feel about the current state of the financial system and their thoughts on the future of finance.
Our findings:
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DEF and @ipsosus asked Americans how they feel about the current state of the financial system and their thoughts on the future of finance.
Our findings:
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1/ In honor of Commissioner Peirce’s last day at the SEC, the DEF team wanted to take a moment to honor her legacy. Commissioner Peirce’s artfully-named speeches and thoughtfully-crafted dissents provide clear, compelling explanations on why decentralization matters and how innovation makes markets more resilient and accessible.
Some of our favorite Commissioner @HesterPeirce moments 👇
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Follow the @avax summit panel about Clarity Act here 👇
“Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today to mourn a crypto bill called the Clarity Act,” opens @nikhileshde @CoinDesk to audience giggles.
Now at @avax summit: powerhouse panel of policy experts!!!! @amandatums @SummerMersinger @_jikim @CodyCarboneDC
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A statement from DEF’s CEO on today’s Clarity Act vote 👇
We @fund_DeFi had the great honor of advocating for DeFi developers and users in the lead up to today's vote on the Clarity Act. DEF's mission is to advocate for good policy for those working on and using decentralized technology, and we take that job seriously - and the work is not done.
We are grateful to have had a seat at the table throughout the process, worked closely with members of Congress and their staff, collaborated with so many in the industry, and most of all, to have had the privilege of advocating for software developers who are innovating in ways we couldn't imagine a decade ago. We will continue showing up, pushing for reasonable, tech-neutral policies and supporting the builders creating what comes next.
To the members and the staffers who took our calls and pushed for good policy when it was inconvenient to do so: thank you. Some of you fought for developers at moments when there was no reward in it.
To everyone across the industry who worked on this alongside us, who helped us understand your work and how the tech functions, and who actually believe in this stuff, you know who you are and you know how we feel about you.
Last, but most of all, to the @fund_DeFi team, you are the best team there is. Small but mighty. You worked around the clock to review legislative text from the perspective of protecting developers, most of whom you haven't even met yet. I'm proud to work with you @_ayanadow @glzavatone @jenn_rosenthal @mbernstein6395 @itstaliad
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Whatever happens to CLARITY, I’m grateful for the extraordinary amount of work that went into protecting software developers along the way.
Developer liability was never the biggest-dollar issue in this bill. Market structure, securities law, commodities law—those questions understandably consumed most of the oxygen. But developer protections implicated something more fundamental: whether the law can distinguish between the person who builds a tool and the person who uses it to commit a crime.
I’m especially grateful to @SenLummis and her staff. They stood up for that principle under enormous pressure and kept fighting for it through every iteration of the bill. Senator Lummis will be sorely missed when she leaves the Senate.
And I’m grateful to my colleagues at @bitcoinpolicy, @fund_defi, @coincenter, and especially @valkenburgh, who kept this issue from becoming an afterthought and consistently defended the rights of people who write and publish open-source software.
The legislative fight may be ending for now. The legal one is not.
That matters well beyond crypto. As software becomes more autonomous, and agentic commerce increasingly blurs the line between tools and traditional intermediaries, one of the defining legal questions of this century will be whether peer-to-peer systems can exist without making the people who build the software responsible for every bad act committed through it.
The answer has to be yes.
The work continues.
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At 2:15 PM ET today, the Senate will vote on cloture for the Clarity Act. It takes 60 votes to open floor debate.
This is a milestone policy moment for American innovation and the future of this industry.
You can watch it live here:
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LIVE NOW at @SolanaInstitute Summit:
In explaining the new Open Protocol Security Coalition ( @claudijd of @asymmetric_re explains that we are bringing together builders and security experts to help “form a common understanding of what good security looks like."
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DEF’s CEO & CLO @amandatums will take the stage on Monday at @SolanaInstitute’s Washington x Wall Street Summit with security experts: @claudijd @_mwc @NotDeGhost.
They’ll unpack what “onchain security” means, how it’s unique, great work being done today, and what’s to come.
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Good policy has three jobs:
1/ Protect developers from liability for how others use their tools
2/ Give users enforceable rights to self-custody and privacy
3/ Keep blockchain's permissionless nature intact through neutral, technology-agnostic rules - @fund_defi
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