DeFi Education Fund

Today, Amanda Tuminelli appeared before Congress in their first ever hearing on DeFi. She spoke on a plethora of topics including why the IRS's broker rule is incompatible w/ DeFi, the SEC's misguided "exchange" rulemaking, and the need for legal clarity for DeFi developers in the U.S. Check out her opening remarks below.

✒️ Today, the Blockchain Association and DeFi Education Fund jointly sent a letter to outgoing U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown (D-OH) and U.S. Senator Tim Scott (R-SC), expressing strong opposition to the re-confirmation of U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission Commissioner Caroline Crenshaw. Please read our full letter (link below). Simply put: her actions have undermined Congress's clear mandate to establish sound regulatory policies for #crypto. 📎 https://lnkd.in/eCq7g3rW

📢 The International Academy of Financial Crime Litigators’ guest authors look into the complexity of regulating digital assets and the impact of these efforts when “the seemingly unstoppable force of financial surveillance has collided with the immovable object of the decentralized public blockchain.” As Fellow Ben Gruenstein describes in the foreword of this working paper, "This statute obtained notoriety soon after 9/11, as federal prosecutors used it to prosecute those suspected of engaging in terrorist financing. The statute became an even more powerful tool when Congress, in passing the PATRIOT Act, amended it to omit the specific intent element, and to apply to defendants who did not have knowledge that the business in which they were engaged even required a license." https://lnkd.in/eMmV5K-h #Cryptocurrency #FinancialCrime #USA

We are pleased to share a paper published in The International Academy of Financial Crime Litigators: Through the Looking Glass: Conceptualizing Control and Analyzing Criminal Liability For Unlicensed Money Transmitting Businesses Under Section 1960. Written by DEF’s Amanda Tuminelli along with Jake Chervinsky & Daniel Barabander from Variant, the paper takes a deep dive into the definition of an “unlicensed money transmitting business” under 8 U.S.C. § 1960, a statute used by the government to try and address disintermediated finance in cases such as Tornado Cash and Samurai Wallet. The paper argues that, based on an extensive review of the case law and statutory history, control over customer funds is necessary to define an entity as a “money transmitting business” - a business that “transfers funds on behalf of the public.” Be sure to check out the full paper at the link: https://lnkd.in/eMmV5K-h

It’s no secret. The Bank Secrecy Act (BSA) has been a mainstay of policy debates around crypto more broadly in the United States. The BSA, a law from the 1970s that is a central instrument in government surveillance of American financial transactions, had no way of foreseeing the rise of the internet and the ability to transact without traditional intermediaries. That is why DEF's Lizandro Pieper and Gavin Leo Zavatone decided to do a deep dive on this topic. In this new paper, the authors investigate the history and design of the BSA, its application to crypto, and explain why software providers and operators across the technology stack are not subject to the BSA. Furthermore, the paper argues why it is necessary for Congress to step in and clarify that the BSA is not applicable across the blockchain technology stack and enact something into law in the spirit of Representative Emmer’s Blockchain Regulatory Certainty Act and Representative Davidson’s KYC Act. Check out the full paper at the link: https://lnkd.in/e-gkC9AP

What does the recent TD Bank settlement demonstrate to us about the U.S.'s AML/CFT policies? DEF Policy Intern Gavin Leo Zavatone breaks it down in the latest addition to the DEF blog. https://lnkd.in/ewXj7drJ

We are honored to join Kentucky, Nebraska, and 16 other States, in a lawsuit against the SEC to clarify the law related to digital assets and prevent the SEC from “continuing its unlawful campaign of regulatory overreach” in crypto. DeFi, and crypto broadly, promises to make financial services and the digital economy more accessible, efficient, interoperable, dependable, and consumer-focused. The SEC currently stands as a barrier to realizing this promise. We are grateful to the states of Kentucky, Nebraska, Tennessee, West Virginia, Iowa, Texas, Mississippi, Montana, Arkansas, Ohio, Kansas, Missouri, Indiana, Utah, Louisiana, South Carolina, Oklahoma, and Florida who chose to take this step and push back against the SEC. https://lnkd.in/etkrprjY

🚀 Spring 2025 Legal Internship Opportunity 🚀 Are you a law student passionate about the future of DeFi and crypto broadly, and looking to gain hands-on experience? Look no further than DEF's Spring 2025 legal internship https://lnkd.in/eqHybKBv To apply, please share a resume, cover letter, and transcript to max@defieducationfund.org

On our latest podcast episode Amanda Tuminelli, Chief Legal Officer at DeFi Education Fund, joins us to talk about the recent congressional hearing on DeFi, lawsuits she's filed against the SEC, and what we can expect with the upcoming U.S. election. Tune in at the links below:

We are incredibly appreciative for all the amicus briefs submitted in our and Beba's case against the SEC. Thank you to a16z crypto Blockchain Association, Coinbase, Coin Center, Crypto Council for Innovation, Investor Choice Advocates Network, Multicoin Capital, Paradigm, Texas Blockchain Council, Union Square Ventures, and Variant. All together, the amici provide important perspectives to the court highlighting why the SEC's approach to airdrops and its regulation by enforcement campaign against the industry are unlawful and must be stopped.