CFTC Creates New Innovation Task Force; Congressional Research Service Releases a DeFi Overview; and more.

CFTC Creates New Innovation Task Force

On March 24, 2026, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) Chairman Michael Selig announced the formation of an Innovation Task Force aimed at advancing a clear regulatory framework for innovators developing novel products and technologies. The initiative will focus on: (i) digital assets and blockchain technology; (ii) artificial intelligence and autonomous systems; and (iii) prediction markets and event contracts.

The Innovation Task Force will coordinate with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and its Crypto Task Force on innovation initiatives. CTFC Senior Advisor Michael J. Passalacqua will lead the Innovation Task Force.

Congressional Research Service Releases a DeFi Overview

On March 16, 2026, the Congressional Research Service (CRS) published a comprehensive primer on the decentralized finance (DeFi) ecosystem and its policy implications. The report provides an overview of DeFi technology and markets, covering key applications such as decentralized exchanges, lending protocols, and mixers. It also examines key regulatory considerations, including the treatment of DeFi in digital asset market structure legislation and the challenges of applying traditional Bank Secrecy Act (BSA) and Anti-Money Laundering (AML) requirements—designed for intermediated financial systems—to noncustodial, peer-to-peer software protocols.

Notably, the report cites DEF’s August 2025 coalition letter to Congress in both footnote 77 (p. 15) and footnote 100 (p. 19), highlighting the importance of including robust developer protections in market structure legislation. You can read the full CRS primer here.

HFSC Hosts Tokenization Hearing

On March 25, 2026, the U.S. House Committee on Financial Services (HFSC) held a hearing entitled “Tokenization and the Future of Securities: Modernizing Our Capital Markets.” The discussion focused on how blockchain technology can bring traditional financial assets on-chain and reshape U.S. capital markets.

While lawmakers debated how regulation should evolve, there was broad recognition that blockchain-based systems can reduce certain risks while raising novel legal questions. Blockchain Association CEO Summer Mersinger explained the benefits of DeFi:

“When we talk about DeFi, what we’re talking about is permissionless, non-custodial, non-discretionary code. So this is a technology that’s going to improve the markets. It’s going to bring faster settlement. It’s going to reduce costs, because there’s not the intermediaries, and just like with electronic trading, these technologies can operate side by side in a regulated space, and eventually you’ll see the evolution of the markets going to the more efficient system, such as using DeFi for these trades so I think what you’ll see is more efficiency from them, lower costs, and really less risk because of the settlement time.”

A recording of the full hearing is available here.

DEF Publishes 2026 Update on U.S. v. Storm

On March 24, 2026, DEF published a blog on the latest developments in U.S. v. Storm, the case against Roman Storm in the Southern District of New York. Following last year’s trial, which resulted in a hung jury and a mistrial on the money laundering and sanctions evasion conspiracy charges, prosecutors have indicated their intent to retry the case. The case continues to serve as a key test of potential criminal liability for software developers, and DEF has closely tracked developments since the trial began last year.

Our latest blog expands on the most important updates shaping how courts may analyze issues like intent, control, and responsibility in permissionless systems. Read more here for the full breakdown.

DeFi Dictionary

Security matters in crypto. Our Word of the Week is what proves a transaction is yours and hasn’t been altered.

Notable and Quotable

“We can’t discuss tokenization without talking about decentralization in the innovation happening in DeFi. … The lack of the intermediation poses some really novel legal and regulatory questions for trading and custody of securities. It really, in some ways, spins on its head, kind of our framework with which we’ve thought through this over the past 100 years.”

—Representative Bryan Steil (R-WI) during the HFSC hearing: “Tokenization and the Future of Securities: Modernizing Our Capital Markets.”

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