Browse DEF's website and content

Blog DEF’s September 2025 Recap  
Monthly Recaps

DEF’s September 2025 Recap  

October 18, 2025

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

Demystifying DeFi: A New National Survey from DEF and Ipsos

On September 18, 2025, DEF and Ipsos released new national research, based on an extensive survey and a series of in-depth 1:1 interviews, providing fresh insights into how Americans view the financial system and emerging technologies like crypto and decentralized finance (DeFi).

The findings highlight that Americans are frustrated with financial institutions, want greater control over their financial assets and data, and believe that innovations can support affordability, equity, and consumer protection in finance, particularly as we build the next generation of U.S. financial services.

Select media coverage and DEF-drafted opinion pieces featuring the research included: 

To dive into the full research, including the summary presentation and topline findings, click here. 

Submitting Amicus Brief in Support of Uniswap Labs

On September 3, 2025, DEF and the Solana Policy Institute (SPI) filed an amicus brief in support of Uniswap Labs and the Uniswap Foundation’s motion to dismiss patent-related claims brought by Bprotocol Foundation and LocalCoin. These entities, tied to the Bancor Protocol, assert ownership of two U.S. patents that purport to cover methods of calculating exchange rates between tokens on a blockchain.

As we note in our brief, the patented ideas do not represent technological breakthroughs, but rather “seek to capitalize on emerging technologies by attempting to claim abstract ideas merely by applying them in the context of the latest technologies.”

The bottom line is that patents that dress up ancient economic practices in blockchain terminology should not be enforceable. Upholding such claims would not reward genuine innovation, but would instead chill the very progress the patent system is supposed to encourage.

Click here to read the brief.

Continuing to Protect Software Developers in Market Structure Legislation

On September 5, 2025, the Senate Banking Committee released an updated draft of digital asset market structure legislation. The draft bill, entitled, “The Responsible Financial Innovation Act of 2025,” aims to establish a regulatory framework for digital assets in the United States. 

The updated draft includes the strongest protections language for software developers and self-custody to-date. Title V, “Protecting Software Developers and Software Innovation,” includes the Blockchain Regulatory Certainty Act (Section 505) and the Keep Your Coins Act (Section 506). In Section 501, “Protecting Software Developers”, the updated bill also recognizes that software developers should not be obligated to comply with regulations meant for traditional financial institutions on the basis of creating and providing noncustodial technological infrastructure. This is a critical recognition of the technical differences between decentralized finance (DeFi) and traditional intermediaries. Further, the updated bill includes federal preemption for these protections, solidifying a single federal framework and preventing a patchwork of state laws for software development.

Notably, the updated bill includes an amendment to Section 1960 (the criminal code provision related to unlicensed money transmission), making it clear that a person must have control over assets to be defined as a money transmitting business operator, and extending the applicability of this section retroactively. With this clarification, software developers would not need to fear criminal prosecution based on misapplication of a criminal statute when they do not have custody or control over user assets.

Following the release of the updated bill, on September 9, 2025, twelve Senate Democrats released a detailed framework for market structure legislation, laying out seven key pillars they believe market structure legislation should include. This is a strong signal that digital asset market structure is a bipartisan legislative priority.

DEF’s Executive Director and Chief Legal Officer, Amanda Tuminelli, gave an early perspective of the Senate’s draft bill here, and shared a statement on the framework from Senate Democrats:

Advocating for DAOs with Uniswap Foundation

On September 2, 2025, the Uniswap Foundation, DEF, and sixteen other organizations sent a letter to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent urging the creation of clear and accessible legal pathways for decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs). We collectively argued that while DAOs are reshaping how communities build and govern digital infrastructure, persistent legal uncertainty has pushed many offshore and left participants exposed to personal liability.

Alongside the letter, the Uniswap Foundation launched a commemorative token on Zora, with token proceeds to be donated to DEF. DEF is proud to co-sign Uniswap’s efforts, which reflects our ongoing commitment to ensuring DAOs have viable, U.S.-based legal frameworks to support innovation and compliance. 

Take a look at Uniswap’s letter to the Treasury here, and view Uniswap’s Zora token here.

September Financial Disclosures

You can find a detailed look into DEF’s September 2025 financials in the breakdown below. 

Donations Received 
Lobbyists $35,000
Public Relations$450
Policy Litigation
Marketing
Merchandise$1,447.39
Operating Expense$37,427.99
Payroll and Associated Taxes$215,978.81
Professional Fees
Accounting$9,070
Legal
Other Consultants$14,265.75
Transacting Fees$200.55
Insurance $3,658.52
Tax & Licenses

Defining DeFi: August Content and Appearances by DEF

Select Print/Online Media

  • Cointelegraph: 40% of Americans would use DeFi with laws in place: Crypto lobby poll
    • Crypto lobby group the DeFi Education Fund (DEF) found in a survey released on Thursday that many Americans “are curious about DeFi” as respondents signalled a low trust in the traditional finance system.
  • Ipsos: One in five Americans want to know more about non-traditional forms of finance
    • A new national study from DeFi Education Foundation (DEF), conducted by Ipsos, provides new insights into how Americans, especially in underbanked communities, view the existing U.S. financial system and emerging technologies, like crypto and decentralized finance. The poll, which was conducted on the Ipsos KnowledgePanel and supplemented by in-depth interviews in the Bronx and Queens, New York, show that Americans are frustrated with financial institutions, want greater control over their financial assets and data, and believe that innovations can support affordability, equity, and consumer protection in finance.
  • Coinpedia: Americans Are Turning to Crypto and DeFi as Trust in Banks Drops: Research
    • A new study by the Defi Education Fund, conducted with Ipsos, shows that many Americans are frustrated with traditional banks. People want full control over their money and the ability to transact directly with others without relying on the “middleman”.

Podcast / Live Chats

Blogs/Articles/Papers

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 X @fund_defi and subscribe to our weekly newsletter “The DeFi Debrief” on Substack.

Latest Posts