DEF’s February Recap

Below you’ll find a recap of what the DeFi Education Fund (DEF) has been up to in February 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.

Continuing Efforts to Overturn IRS “Broker” Rule

On February 26, the House Ways and Means Committee held a markup of the Congressional Review Act (CRA) Resolution introduced by Representative Mike Carey (R-OH) to overturn the Internal Revenue Service’s (IRS) “DeFi Broker” Rulemaking. The Committee passed the resolution down party lines (26-16).

After the vote, in a media statement, DEF’s CEO, Miller Whitehouse-Levine noted: “The DeFi Education Fund applauds the House Ways and Means Committee members who voted for moving the CRA to the House floor, recognizing the need to push back against unlawful and unconstitutional overreach by the Treasury and IRS and to protect  Americans' freedom of choice in how they transact…Members of the full House and Senate will now get to vote on the CRA."

We continue to be 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. 

Responding to Commissioner Hester Peirce’s Call for Input

On February 21, SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce released a press release entitled, “There Must Be Some Way Out of Here,” which served as an invitation to provide insights—from market participants, developers, and even skeptics—to help the SEC solve longstanding legal issues related to crypto assets while adhering to the SEC’s three primary goals: “1) protecting investors, 2) maintaining fair, orderly, and efficient markets, and 3) facilitating capital formation.”

In response, DEF published a blog capturing a list of questions from Commissioner Peirce’s remarks that are relevant to the future of DeFi. The DEF team intends to provide responses to the Commissioner’s proposed questions in the near future.

Click here to read the full blog. 

Published Lately by DEF

Paper Exploring Samourai Wallet & Money Transmitters

On February 13, DEF published a paper entitled, “Prosecuting Privacy: Examining Samourai Wallet, Money Transmitters, and the Criminalization of Innovation,” authored by DEF’s Spencer Peek. The paper examines whether non-custodial technology can legally be classified as a “money transmitter,” and argues that the DOJ’s interpretation inaccurately stretches existing laws in ways that threaten innovation and due process.

Click here to read the full paper. 

Op-Ed Examining “Control”

As part of a package of crypto policy views from a16z, on February 4, DEF’s CEO, Miller Whitehouse-Levine, and CLO, Amanda Tuminelli, published and op ed: “Why the Department of Justice’s actions against DeFi are a wreck.” The article focuses on a central question from which all other policy and legal questions must flow: Who is in control? The article dives into prosecutions of DeFi protocols, which rest on faulty assumptions about who is exercising control and what level of control they have, causing unnecessary harm to blockchain development.

Click here to read the full op-ed. 

Article Examining the Burdens, Costs, and Failures of the Bank Secrecy Act (BSA)

On February 25, DEF published an article entitled, “The Bank Secrecy Act is Broken,” which examines the burdens, costs, and failures of the Bank Secrecy Act (BSA), as well as the potentially disastrous implications of applying the BSA to DeFi. The article, authored by DEF’s Gavin Zavatone & Henry Michaelson, explains how, despite the BSA failing to serve traditional finance, the DOJ is still pushing legal theories extending the BSA’s ineffective and burdensome framework to DeFi and ultimately, putting American innovation, privacy, and decentralization at risk.

Click here to read the full piece. 

February Financial Disclosures

You can find a detailed look into DEF’s February 2025 financials in the breakdown below. If you would like a deeper look at our 2025 financial breakdowns, please click here. 

Donations Received
Lobbyists	$40,000
Public Relations
Policy Litigation	$24,150
Marketing
Merchandise	$2,374
Operating Expense	$14,557
Payroll and Associated Taxes	$231,540
Professional Fees
Accounting	$6,335
Legal	$17,905
Other Consultants	$5,000
Transacting Fees	$2,381
Insurance	$1,953
Tax & Licenses
Other Overhead	$23,377

February Media

Print/Online

•  The Block: US House tax committee moves forward on bill to overturn controversial crypto IRS rule

  •  “The DeFi Education Fund applauds the House Ways and Means Committee members who voted for moving the CRA to the House floor, recognizing the need to push back against unlawful and unconstitutional overreach by the Treasury and IRS and to protect  Americans' freedom of choice in how they transact," said Miller Whitehouse-Levine, CEO of DEF, in a statement. "Members of the full House and Senate will now get to vote on the CRA."

• CoinDesk: SEC Drops Investigation Into Uniswap, Will Not File Enforcement Action

  • Amanda Tuminelli, Chief Legal Officer of DEF, said in a statement to CoinDesk that the SEC’s decision to drop the investigation into Uniswap Labs “gives DeFi companies additional comfort to pivot from defending to embracing our right to build decentralized tech.”

• DL News: SEC drops Uniswap Labs investigation

  • “This is undoubtedly the right outcome, and one that corrects the mistakes of previous SEC leadership,” Amanda Tuminelli said in a statement shared with DL News. “It gives DeFi companies additional comfort to pivot from defending to embracing our right to build decentralised tech.”

• The Block: SEC drops Uniswap Labs investigation as agency continues crypto-friendly push

  • Amanda Tuminelli said the SEC's move to drop the investigation was noteworthy. "It’s notable that the SEC is formally and publicly closing their investigation into Uniswap Labs," Tuminelli said in an emailed statement. "It gives DeFi companies additional comfort to pivot from defending to embracing our right to build decentralized tech."

• Axios: D.C. standing down

  • "In addition to being a welcome signal of progress, this is also clear confirmation that the previous SEC leadership failed to sufficiently uphold its mission to protect American consumers, innovations, and markets — particularly related to the crypto industry — and new leadership is working quickly to course-correct," Amanda Tuminelli said in a statement.

• CoinDesk: Crypto Industry Asks Congress to Scrap IRS's DeFi Broker Rule

  • Beyond the letter, other crypto organizations are also weighing in. A spokesperson from the DeFi Education Fund said it's "thrilled" to see momentum building against the "unworkable, unconstitutional" rule that the group is committed to ensuring doesn't get implemented.

• CoinDesk:Trump to Tap Former CFTC Commissioner, a16z Policy Head Brian Quintenz for CFTC Head

  • Industry groups likewise supported the nomination after news of it spread. Miller Whitehouse-Levine said the organization looked forward to working with him. "Brian has a long track record of supporting DeFi and advocating for sound policies that will enable DeFi developers and users to thrive in the United States," he said in a statement. 

• Unchained Crypto: Crypto Expert Brian Quintenz of Andreessen Horowitz Selected to Lead the CFTC

  • “Brian has a long track record of supporting DeFi and advocating for sound policies that will enable DeFi developers and users to thrive in the United States,” said Miller Whitehouse-Levine. “We look forward to working with the CFTC under his leadership to ensure America regains its position at the forefront of financial innovation.”

• Cointelegraph: US prosecutors must rethink DeFi stance — DeFi Education Fund

  • The US Department of Justice should stop holding decentralized finance (DeFi) protocols accountable for wrongdoing they didn’t instigate and can’t control, the DeFi Education Fund said in a Feb. 4 blog post on venture firm a16z’s website.  “Holding people responsible for systems and activities over which they exercise no agency or control leads to perverse outcomes,” the post said.

Blogs/Articles/Papers

• Why the Department of Justice’s actions against DeFi are a wreck

• Prosecuting Privacy: Examining Samourai Wallet, Money Transmitters, and the Criminalization of Innovation

• The Bank Secrecy Act is Broken

• Shaping the Future of DeFi: DEF’s Response to Commissioner Hester M. Peirce’s Call for Input

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 weekly newsletter on Substack.