35 crypto firms urge sec to make defi rules permanent

More than 35 crypto firms — including a16z Crypto, Uniswap, Chainlink and others — have petitioned the SEC to convert its April 13 staff bulletin on DeFi interfaces from temporary guidance into a permanent rule. The April guidance exempted certain front-end providers that let users retain custody of assets from broker‑dealer registration, but the exemption is explicitly temporary (up to five years). Petitioners argue that permanent, public regulation would provide legal certainty and support DeFi growth, while prolonged uncertainty could hinder innovation and investor access. Separately, Ethereum developer Tom Lehman proposed EIP-8182 to add a protocol-level “shared shielded pool” for private transfers, a change that could complicate the SEC’s broker‑dealer boundaries and compliance assessment. Market impact: permanent rules would likely be bullish for DeFi adoption by lowering regulatory risk, whereas protocol-level privacy features could raise compliance concerns and regulatory friction.