Citadel Securities and DeFi Waging War of Words Through SEC Correspondence

Investment firm Citadel Securities sent a letter to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) arguing that decentralized finance (DeFi) protocols handling tokenized securities require stricter regulation, suggesting they should register as traditional intermediaries. In response, a coalition including the DeFi Education Fund, Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), and the Uniswap Foundation countered with their own correspondence, labeling Citadel's arguments as "baseless." While the DeFi group shares goals for investor protection, they argued that these goals can be met through thoughtfully designed on-chain markets without mandatory registration as traditional SEC intermediaries. A DeFi Education Fund spokeswoman suggested Citadel's stance is motivated by protecting its business interests against a technology that threatens its market share. The article also notes that the current SEC management under President Trump has been seeking more policy leeway for the crypto industry, with a White House crypto adviser supporting the need to protect DeFi developers.

(Source：CoinDesk)