On June 9, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) held the fifth roundtable meeting on "DeFi and the American Spirit". At this meeting, SEC Chairman Paul Atkins announced that the previous law enforcement and regulation model would be abandoned and a new model centered on regulatory sandboxes, clear rules and compliance incentives would be adopted. The focus includes supporting DeFi innovation, legalizing pledges, promoting innovation exemptions, protecting developers, and promoting the integration of traditional financial institutions with on-chain services. This marks that the SEC's regulatory framework for DeFi has entered a reconstruction stage.
The policy has attracted great attention from industry insiders. After the policy was announced, industry leaders such as Uniswap CEO Hayden Adams praised the new US policy on DeFi for restoring developers' confidence in innovation in the United States. Binance founder CZ said that June 9 "will be remembered as DeFi Day." At the same time, DeFi's top tokens such as $UNI, $LDO and $AAVE have seen their highest recent gains of more than 20%.
This meeting is also seen as a major shift in the US's regulatory thinking on DeFi, which may have a profound impact on the global DeFi policy path. It coincides with the final vote of the GENIUS Act and the passage of the CLARITY Act. In this context, can the US SEC's new policy on DeFi bring DeFi into the Defi Summer 2.0 stage? CoinW Research Institute will conduct an in-depth analysis below.
1. The US SEC policy changes from strict regulation to loosening
1.1 Gary Gensler’s Strong Regulatory Policy
The attitudes of successive chairmen of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) towards cryptocurrencies and their derivative forms such as DeFi determine the temperature of the U.S. crypto market. During Gary Gensler's supervision period, the SEC's regulatory strategy revolved around the priority of securities definition and law enforcement, striving to incorporate token transactions into the existing securities framework, and launched a series of compliance enforcement actions against DeFi project parties, including the summons of Uniswap and the lawsuit of Coinbase against its products.
Since taking office in April 2021, Gary Gensler has adopted a comprehensive tightening regulatory strategy for crypto assets, especially the DeFi market, with the core concept of law enforcement as rules. He emphasized that most DeFi platforms and tokens are securities and should be included in the jurisdiction of the SEC, and promoted the redefinition of the concept of exchanges to cover DeFi protocols. Gary Gensler also pointed out many times that DeFi is not truly decentralized, and platforms need to be registered as exchanges, isolated and custodial, and strictly disclose information to protect investors.
According to Cornerstone Research data, Gensler promoted 125 crypto-related law enforcement actions during his tenure, showing a harsh attitude towards DeFi. However, as regulatory practices continue to advance, this policy has gradually exposed structural problems. On the one hand, the SEC's legal demands rub against the technical reality of DeFi, which is based on open source and smart contracts, and it is difficult to directly match the traditional triangle regulatory logic of issuers-investors-intermediaries; on the other hand, DeFi's global deployment and anonymous governance also reduce the marginal effect of compulsory enforcement, and regulatory lags coexist with governance chaos. This kind of crackdown-style regulation has severely hit market expectations, and many institutions and entrepreneurs are confused about compliance, and market liquidity and innovation are suppressed.
1.2 Paul Atkins’ DeFi-friendly policy
The new SEC Chairman Paul Atkins officially took office in April 2025, and his regulatory style has changed significantly. At the beginning of his tenure, Paul Atkins quickly launched a special roundtable meeting called "DeFi and the American Spirit". The fifth meeting of this series of special roundtable meetings was held on June 9. Since this meeting has a clear policy orientation for DeFi, it has attracted much attention. The following key points of this meeting are worth noting:
Validators and staking service providers do not constitute securities transactions
The SEC clarified that miners, validators, and staking service providers participating in PoW or PoS networks do not constitute securities trading activities, which initially clarified the compliance boundaries of infrastructure roles.
Confirming the legality of self-custody and protecting wallet developers
The document emphasizes that self-custody is the core of private property rights in the United States and that the crypto industry should not be an exception. It also opposes subjecting code developers to securities law regulation because their codes are used by others for financial activities.
Recognize the self-operation and risk resistance of DeFi protocols
The document points out that on-chain contracts are systems that can operate independently without the need for an operator, and have demonstrated strong risk resistance in past crises. They should not be banned across the board just because they are not included in the traditional licensing system.
Promote "innovation exemption" to lower the compliance threshold for on-chain products
Support the establishment of a temporary exemption mechanism for on-chain projects, encourage developers to carry out on-chain innovation under the premise of meeting certain conditions, lower the threshold for innovation, and promote the legal development of on-chain financial activities.
Study legislation and regulations to create a new regulatory system for on-chain finance
Clarify the future policy direction. On the one hand, provide a compliance framework for traditional registration institutions to use the on-chain system; on the other hand, study the regulatory adaptation of the on-chain system itself.
This policy releases clear marginal benefits, especially to the following sectors: validators and staking services, wallets and self-custody tools, on-chain contract platforms and compliance middle layers.
2. The United States attempts to regain global encryption discourse power
As the US SEC changes its attitude, the regulatory environment for DeFi has become more friendly. Developers and capital that once migrated abroad due to uncertainty are expected to return, driving the revival of the US crypto industry. At the same time, some global regulators have also introduced new regulations for DeFi. The following article will observe the countries and regions that have adjusted their policies after the US SEC's new policy.
2.1 Europe adjusts its regulatory framework
On June 9, after the US SEC held a roundtable meeting on "DeFi and the American Spirit", EU regulators quickly followed up and included DeFi in the next phase of MiCA's agenda, planning to clarify the legal definition of DeFi by mid-2026. This move not only demonstrates the EU's high sensitivity in regulatory actions, but also reflects that it is accelerating the construction of its own decentralized financial regulatory framework to cope with the evolution of the global regulatory environment and seize the initiative in rule-making.
2.2 Abu Dhabi releases ADGM Act
On June 10, the Financial Regulatory Authority of Abu Dhabi Global Market (FSRA) officially launched the "Guidance – Regulation of Virtual Asset Activities in ADGM" through its official website, which provides detailed regulations for virtual asset activities including DeFi protocols. The guidelines will take effect on the date of publication, and ADGM has begun to review existing or new applicants in accordance with the rules and make formal assessments of the compliance of on-chain governance mechanisms and transparency.
2.3 Australia clarifies DeFi regulatory framework for the first time
On June 11, the Australian Sanctions Office (ASO), which is affiliated with the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, released a new "Guidance and Advisory Notes" on its official website on the same day, which specifically added the "Fintech and DeFi sector" content, and officially included the DeFi protocol in the scope of sanctions and compliance supervision. Although this move is mainly from the perspective of counter-sanctions, the significance behind it is that DeFi is no longer a gray area, but has been included in the national regulatory framework, which means that Australian regulators have clearly regarded it as a high-regulatory area.
3. Affected by this, the DeFi market rebounded
The major shift in the attitude of the US SEC has driven the market to repricing the DeFi sector. Judging from market performance, the leading DeFi protocols are becoming the first beneficiaries of the regulatory shift, and structural opportunities have emerged behind the recovery of market sentiment. In the early stages of the market recovery, CoinW Research Institute recommends that investors focus on three directions: 1. Tokens have the ability to capture real economy; 2. Projects or protocols with compliance planning and the ability to communicate with policies; 3. The ecosystem is expanding to multi-chain and traditional financial integration. Below, we sort out the leading DeFi protocols that currently have the above characteristics and have outstanding market performance during this period:
3.1 Uniswap
As the most representative DEX in the DeFi field, Uniswap has long been constrained by the lack of value capture of tokens and the dual pressure of front-end compliance risks. However, after the SEC proposed the regulatory position that "developer responsibilities should be separated from code users", the legal risk margin of front-end providers has decreased, which is conducive to boosting the market's expectations for Uniswap's business extensions such as fee sharing and authorization models. Uniswap's native token $UNI has risen by about 30% in the past 7 days, and rose by about 26% on June 10. According to defillama data, Uniswap's DEX trading volume on June 10 was about US$4.8 billion, a peak in DEX trading volume in the past two months.
3.2 Lido
The PoS staking protocol Lido has been on the brink of regulatory scrutiny for its staking-as-a-service model, but this time the SEC clearly stated that "staking services do not constitute securities transactions", which undoubtedly cleared the policy uncertainty for such protocols. Lido's native token $LDO has risen by more than 15% in the past 7 days, and the total amount of Ethereum staking has simultaneously hit a new high.
3.3 Aave
Aave has good regulatory adaptability in self-custody and lending models, and actively promotes compliance upgrades through GHO stablecoins, modular governance and other paths. The SEC emphasizes the legality of user asset self-custody, which means that the "non-custodial lending agreement" logic represented by Aave may be recognized by the policy. Aave's native token $AAVE has risen by about 16% in the past 7 days, and the on-chain lending activity has also rebounded from the bottom.
summary
The policy shift by the new SEC Chairman Paul Atkins marks a new stage for US DeFi regulation. From the past crackdown-style regulation centered on mandatory law enforcement to the current emphasis on regulatory sandboxes, clear compliance boundaries and innovation incentives, this not only fills the gap in the DeFi system, but also provides a clear path for the development of the industry. The new policy confirms the legitimacy of self-hosted wallets, delineates the regulatory boundaries of validators and staking service providers, etc., showing the US SEC's evolutionary understanding of DeFi and its efforts to adapt the system.
This shift is not a simple relaxation of regulation, but a deep-level innovation in governance logic, which aims to transform DeFi from a test field in a regulatory vacuum to a regulated and sustainable financial ecosystem. Through this new regulatory framework, the United States is not only expected to reshape the global crypto discourse, but also point out the path of future compliance innovation for market participants. The future of DeFi may no longer be a utopia that resists regulation, but a new direction of working in tandem with the system, and the new leadership of the SEC is the opener of this door.
Reference Links:
1.Remarks at the Crypto Task Force Roundtable on Decentralized Finance:
https://www.sec.gov/newsroom/speeches-statements/atkins-remarks-defi-roundtable-060925 2.Guidance – Regulation of Virtual Asset Activities in ADGM [10 June 2025]:
https://en.adgm.thomsonreuters.com/sites/default/files/net_file_store/Guidance_-_Regulation_of_Virtual_Asset_Activities_in_ADGM(VER07.100625).pdf 3.Guidance Note - Fintech and the DeFi sector:
https://www.dfat.gov.au/international-relations/security/sanctions/guidance/fintech-and-defi-sector
