Solana Policy Institute Urges SEC Protect DeFi Developers From Regulations

The Solana Policy Institute sent a letter to the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) urging it to differentiate between centralized crypto exchanges and non-custodial decentralized finance (DeFi) software developers. The institute argues that publishing non-custodial code should not equate to acting as an intermediary or controlling user funds, and thus developers should not be regulated under the Exchange Act 3b-16, which targets exchange operators that custody assets. The letter calls for guidance to distinguish software tools from actual intermediaries and suggests amending Act 3b-16 to exclude open-source code from the "exchange" definition, warning that regulating DeFi code like centralized platforms risks stifling innovation and pushing activity offshore. This push for developer protection mirrors recent legislative efforts, such as the Blockchain Regulatory Certainty Act introduced by Senators Lummis and Wyden, which aims to clarify that writing software does not trigger money-transmitter requirements.

(Source：Cointelegraph)