DeFi
Biden is ‘rushing’ to make DeFi illegal, VanEck exec says in dire warning – DL News
Multiple actions by regulators in April demonstrate efforts to rein in DeFi, a VanEck executive said.
Decentralized finance and self-management are under threat from the actions of the Joe Biden administration.
That’s according to Matthew Sigel, head of digital assets research at VanEck, who highlighted actions taken by regulators under Biden’s leadership as overly aggressive and, at times, offering little recourse to crypto companies.
They also played a significant role throughout April in decreasing investor confidence in digital assets, the research head said. DL News.
“The Biden administration is rushing to make DeFi and self-custody functionally illegal in the United States before voters can express their political intentions at the ballot box,” Sigel said.
His comments come as the presidential race approaches, with former Republican President Donald Trump likely facing Democratic incumbent Biden in November.
“A cooling of speculative foam among other worrying macro signals“, worsened investor apathy, Sigel said.
The actions of regulators last month led to several high-profile cases, which he said highlighted DeFi projects and custody solutions, he said.
Uniswap with notice
This included the Securities and Exchange Commission issuing a warning to the Uniswap Foundation on April 11, alleging that it was operating an unregistered exchange.
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Uniswap founder Hayden Adams has vowed to fight the SEC, saying the regulator is unwilling to provide clarification or a registration pathway to those operating legally.
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Sigel suggests that other measures taken against the DeFi sector last month can be blamed on Biden.
They include: the Internal Revenue Service’s proposed reporting requirements for unhosted wallets, which the industry says includes an overly broad definition of brokers; and a warning letter from the SEC alleging Ethereum developer Consensys violated securities laws via its MetaMask wallet.
Sebastian Sinclair is markets correspondent for DL News. Do you have any advice? Contact Seb at sebastian@dlnews.com.