Gm! ICMYI: the DeFi Debrief newsletter is now live. 👉 New FAQs from the SEC and CFTC 👉 Senator @SteveDaines introduces ADAPT Act 👉 DEF's EU MiCA response ... and more

DEF submitted a response to the EU’s MiCA Review. In it, DEF asks EU regulators to ensure three key protections: 👉 Protect developers. People who write and publish software should not be subject to regulatory obligations or inherit liability for how third parties use their software, or be classified under regimes that do not describe the activities they actually perform. 👉 Protect user autonomy. Self-custody and privacy-enhancing technology should be clear, affirmative, enforceable rights, not features that cost users their protections. 👉 Protect permissionless infrastructure. Definitions should be accurate and technology-neutral, and should preserve the line between non-custodial software and the intermediaries that control customer assets. MiCA has a head start in clarifying the line between control and code, and we encourage the Commission to ensure these same standards apply as they build their report and consider any future amendments to MiCA.

Latest DeFi Debrief is live! One highlight: 👉 On Sept. 16, the UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) published Policy Statement PS26/18: Cryptoasset Perimeter Guidance, setting out guidance on when cryptoasset activities require FCA authorization under the UK’s new regulatory regime. defieducationfund.substack.c…

"We recommend, as its next steps in advancing Project Crypto, that the SEC clarify the circumstances in which developers of decentralized exchange protocols (DEXs) and the apps that provide access to them (DEX Apps) fall outside the Exchange Act’s exchange registration requirements. That is why we, together with the DeFi Education Fund, are now proposing a safe harbor from exchange registration requirements of the Exchange Act." 👏

The @SECgov issued the long-anticipated “Innovation Exemption” today, to address onchain trading of tokenized securities and “Tokenized Securities Venues” (TSVs). This is a very important first step in bringing much-needed clarity to crypto market participants and users.  The order provides conditional exemptive relief from the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 definitions of “exchange” and “dealer” for certain trading platforms and liquidity providers that facilitate the trading of tokenized securities. While the order anticipates trading via permissioned automated market markers and liquidity pools, smart contracts used by a TSV must be auditable, public, and deployed on a public, permissionless distributed ledger. The relief is time-limited and subject to certain conditions, but this is undeniably a big step forward for those building on public blockchain networks.  We applaud the SEC staff and Chairman @SeCPaulSAtkins for working proactively to enable responsible innovation in America. The DEF team looks forward to continuing engagement with SEC staff and providing comments to the innovation exemption to assist the SEC in moving to proposed rulemaking. As always, DEF will work to ensure that DeFi technology is accurately described and that developers are sufficiently protected under securities laws.

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: senate.gov/legislative/floor…

The latest DeFi Debrief newsletter features a quote from @JSelway3, Director of the SEC Division of Trading and Markets, on the transfer agent proposal.

Gm! The latest DeFi Debrief newsletter is now live 🫡