Citadel pushes SEC to classify open-source developers as unregistered stockbrokers – Uniswap fires back
Citadel urged the SEC to regulate DeFi protocols trading tokenized equities as exchanges, prompting Uniswap's founder to criticize the move against open-source developers.Summary
Citadel Securities submitted a letter to the SEC arguing that decentralized finance (DeFi) protocols facilitating tokenized U.S. equity trading meet the statutory definitions of exchanges and broker-dealers, requiring them to adhere to existing rules like Nasdaq's, ensuring investor protections and market integrity.
Uniswap founder Hayden Adams strongly countered this, viewing it as an attempt to treat decentralized software developers like centralized intermediaries, conflating writing open-source code with operating a regulated business. The debate centers on whether tokenized securities must fit into the existing regulatory framework (Citadel's view) or if open-source code and permissionless architecture can be distinct from traditional gatekeepers (Adams's view).
The SEC Investor Advisory Committee held a panel discussing tokenized equities, testing how existing rules apply. The outcome will determine if tokenized U.S. equities can trade on public blockchains under DeFi's permissionless ethos or if compliance burdens designed for traditional finance will force activity offshore or into regulatory gray areas.
(Source：CryptoSlate)