The DeFi Education Fund (DEF), a consortium representing significant participants in the decentralized finance (DeFi) landscape, has
communicated its reservations to the US Senate Banking Committee following a review of the latest draft of the
Responsible
Financial Innovation Act (RFA) of 2025.
In a
letter
dated August 1, bearing signatures of members like Uniswap
advocated for greater technological neutrality within the proposed legislation.
The DEF emphasized that developers crafting open-source crypto technologies
should not be subject to the same regulations as financial service providers or intermediaries. Furthermore, the Fund underscored the importance of safeguarding individuals’ autonomy in managing their own digital assets, a concept known as self-custody.
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The submitted letter also highlighted that
measures designed to prevent illicit activities should not inadvertently stifle innovation within the DeFi sector. DEF cautioned against applying regulations intended for traditional financial institutions to decentralized systems that operate without third-party involvement.
Additionally, DEF urged legislators to
revise FinCEN’s directives to ensure that tools engineered without control over user funds are not classified as financial entities.
According to the group’s statement:
The forthcoming regulations should acknowledge that technology consisting solely of non-custodial software, lacking control over user assets, should remain outside the purview of financial institution or intermediary regulations.
Furthermore, the DEF asserted that conventional financial firms might leverage state-level enforcement mechanisms against DeFi developers, potentially driven by competitive motives rather than genuine consumer protection. To counter this, the group proposed that federal law should supersede state regulations, thus creating a standardized protective framework for all participants within the DeFi industry.
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