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DEF January Recap

Here’s what the DeFi Education Fund (DEF) has been up to in January 2025. If you have any questions or would like to learn more about a specific activity, please do not hesitate to reach out to contact@defieducationfund.org.


Ongoing Efforts to Overturn the IRS “Broker” Rule

On January 21, members of the Senate, led by Senator Ted Cruz, and joined by Congressman Mike Carey in the House of Representatives, introduced resolutions to use the Congressional Review Act (CRA) to invalidate Treasury and IRS’s misguided and unfairly sweeping DeFi portion of their “broker” rulemaking.


In a statement, DEF’s CEO, Miller Whitehouse-Levine, noted that “through the Congressional Review Act, Congress has the opportunity to reaffirm its original intent in updating the definition of “broker.”


Miller was quoted in a Wall Street Journal article discussing  the chances of the CRA reaching President Trump, where he says he is “cautiously optimistic, given the rule-making is so out of line with what Congress was trying to do in the statute.”


We are deeply grateful to the policymakers who recognize the need to push back against this unlawful and unconstitutional attack by the Treasury and the IRS, and the DEF team remains committed to continuing to advocate for the rollback of this misguided rulemaking.


For more information on the CRA process, please check out the DEF Weekly on this topic. 


Authoring a Blog on the Future of DAOs

On January 22, DEF Policy Intern Henry Michaelson published a new blog post that explores how the courts and policymakers are shaping the future of DAOs. 


The blog examines recent court cases, such as Samuels v. Lido DAO, highlighting the complexities DAOs face within traditional legal frameworks. It also discusses emerging regulatory approaches and the importance of establishing clear guidelines to foster innovation while ensuring compliance.


We believe this piece is essential reading for those looking to understand the current and future legal challenges DAOs may encounter.


Correcting the Narrative on the Role of Crypto in Illicit Finance

On January 12, Senator Elizabeth Warren sent a letter to Scott Bessent, Donald Trump’s nominee to be Secretary of the Treasury, ahead of his confirmation hearing. 


Unsurprisingly, the letter contained misrepresentations about the role that crypto plays in illicit financial activities.


In response, DEF published an X thread, separating fact from fiction. 


In this thread, we highlight a recently published TRM Labs report, which found that despite the massive 2024 rally in crypto markets (with crypto transaction volume soaring to over $10.6 trillion, up 56% since 2023), illicit volume dropped to $45 billion, decreasing 24% since 2023. This represents 0.4% of overall crypto transactions, and marks a 51% decrease from 2023 figures. We believe exclusively focusing on crypto means deprioritizing terrorists’ preferred financing sources. 


If you are interested in digging into this topic, you can check out a DEF blog from June 2024. 


Providing an Update on DEF’s Funding

As the political and regulatory landscapes continue to evolve, we remain more committed than ever to advocating for pro-DeFi policies at both the federal and state levels, striving to highlight DeFi’s potential to lawmakers and regulators. On January 10, 2025, we shared another update on our funding.


To learn more, check out our blog at the link.


January Financial Disclosures


We are continuing to share a detailed look into DEF’s financials. You can find the January 2025 breakdown below. If you would like a deeper look at our 2024 financial breakdowns, please click here. 


Donations Received 


Lobbyists 

$40,000

Public Relations

$7,635

Policy Litigation

$42,980

Marketing


Merchandise


Operating Expense

$10,387

Payroll and Associated Taxes

$195,774

Professional Fees


Accounting

$6,335

Legal

$5,095

Other Consultants

$1,000

Transacting Fees

$1,000

Insurance 

$1,953

Tax & Licenses


Other Overhead

$36,157


January Media


Print/Online

  • The Wall Street Journal: Republicans Want to Kill Tax-Reporting Rule for Some Crypto Trades

    • “I am cautiously optimistic, given the rule-making is so out of line with what Congress was trying to do in the statute,” said Miller Whitehouse-Levine, chief executive officer of the DeFi Education Fund, an industry advocacy group. “This is an absolutely fundamental issue for the industry.”

 


“The lack of a clear regulatory framework in this space has only empowered bad actors at the expense of consumers and at the expense of good responsible businesses and developers in the U.S.,” Whitehouse-Levine said. “The reality is there have been massive failures that could have been prevented.”


  • Bloomberg: Crypto Lands in Washington as Less-Than-Unified Political Force

    • Meanwhile, passing stablecoin legislation could be considered more “low-hanging-fruit,” according to Miller Whitehouse-Levine, CEO of decentralized-finance research and advocacy group DeFi Education Fund. Representative Patrick McHenry introduced the “Clarity for Payment Stablecoins Act of 2023,” while Lummis and New York Democratic Senator Kirsten Gillibrand put out a joint “Lummis-Gillibrand Payment Stablecoin Act” last year.


“There’s a broader consensus around what stablecoin legislation should look like,” said Whitehouse-Levine. “The McHenry bill that was marked-up in mid-2023 has been well-socialized and was negotiated with [Democratic Representative Maxine] Waters. I think that anything that passes will look largely similar to that bill.”


  • Sherwood News: What the new SEC crypto task force actually means for the industry

    • Miller Whitehouse-Levine, chief of the advocacy group called the DeFi Education Fund, said, “Legislation around stablecoins and market structure, specifically, can happen quickly. On the stablecoin front, it’s just a Fed issue at this point... I don’t think that the Federal Reserve will be able to exercise a veto like they were able to do for the last four years.”



“For the first time, a federal circuit court will have the chance to address the controlling legal question of the extent of the SEC's statutory authority over digital assets,” she continued. “If the Second Circuit agrees to hear Coinbase's appeal, it will have the opportunity to provide legal clarity the industry has been asking for."



That’s because the court would order the SEC to create bespoke rules for crypto in the event Coinbase wins.


“That is an extraordinary remedy that happens very rarely,” Whitehouse-Levine told DL News.



Whitehouse-Levine says there are other bills that are less sweeping in scope but no less important to the industry that have a greater chance of passing in 2025, such as Minnesota Representative Tom Emmer’s Blockchain Regulatory Certainty Act.


 

Blogs


For up-to-date information about what’s happening in D.C. and what the DeFi Education Team is up to, please follow us on Twitter @fund_defi and subscribe to our Substack.


 
 
 

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