The DeFi Education Fund and the Uniswap Foundation just sent a sharp May 27 letter to the SEC’s Crypto Task Force lead Hester Peirce, telling the agency to ease up on regulating decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs). Their bold claim? If a DAO is “sufficiently decentralized,” it shouldn’t fall under the dreaded securities-defining Howey test because there’s no single person or coordinated group to point fingers at.
Instead, they argue DAOs should be treated like individuals or loosely connected groups unless proven otherwise. The letter spells it out plainly:
“If a DAO has a dispersed collection of tokenholders who actively participate in and govern the DAO and its network, then neither the network token nor transactions involving that token should be considered securities.”
In other words, hands off if the decentralization is real.
This missive was a response to Peirce’s February 21 statement inviting public comments on crypto regulation, a move that got industry players talking.
A Crypto-Friendly Turn at the SEC
The SEC’s stance has shifted significantly from the Trump era’s aggressive enforcement actions, especially after appointing former crypto lobbyist Paul Atkins to lead the agency. Atkins has been vocal about blockchain’s potential to unleash new kinds of market activity, and he’s openly criticized the Biden administration’s tougher approach on crypto.
During a May 20 SEC oversight hearing, Atkins confirmed that the Crypto Task Force’s first report would be out in the coming months. He also revealed plans for a series of roundtable discussions with crypto industry leaders to shape smarter, innovation-friendly policies.
Kristian Koch
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