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Financial Information

June 2023

Expenditures

Stay tuned for June expenditures...

May 2023

May 23
Expenditures

The DEF’s expenditures generally fall into three categories: grants given, internal expenses and operations (employees, rent, insurance, etc.), and external expenses (independent contractors like legal counsel, lobbyists, web development, etc.). The DEF’s expenditures during the month of May 2023 were: $133,896.71 in internal expenses, and $282,488.82 in external expenses.

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What we worked on and what was happening:

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Work of the Month: Summary

Link to May Summary

April 2023

April 23
Expenditures

The DEF’s expenditures generally fall into three categories: grants given, internal expenses and operations (employees, rent, insurance, etc.), and external expenses (independent contractors like legal counsel, lobbyists, web development, etc.). The DEF’s expenditures during the month of April 2023 were: $142,563.53 in internal expenses, and $301,667,54 in external expenses.

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What we worked on and what was happening:

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Work of the Month: Summary

Link to April Summary

March 2023

March 23
Expenditures

The DEF’s expenditures generally fall into three categories: grants given, internal expenses and operations (employees, rent, insurance, etc.), and external expenses (independent contractors like legal counsel, lobbyists, web development, etc.). The DEF’s expenditures during the month of March 2023 were: $128,513.41 in internal expenses, and $103,500 in external expenses.

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What we worked on and what was happening:

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Work of the Month: Summary

Link to March Summary

February 2023

Feb 2023
Expenditures

The DEF’s expenditures generally fall into three categories: grants given, internal expenses and operations (employees, rent, insurance, etc.), and external expenses (independent contractors like legal counsel, lobbyists, web development, etc.). The DEF’s expenditures during the month of February 2023 were: $84,205.65 in internal expenses, and $104,002.79 in external expenses.

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What we worked on and what was happening:

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Work of the Month: Summary

Here’s what the DeFi Education Fund (DEF) has been up to in February. If you have any questions or would like to learn more about a specific activity, please do not hesitate to reach out.

 

As the saying goes, “bear markets are for builders.” Here at the DeFi Education Fund, we took that to heart in the month of February as we continued to plan, educate and lay the groundwork for what is sure to be an eventful year in DeFi/crypto policy.

 

Continuing to Meet with the 118th Congress

 

As the 118th Congress continues to settle in, we spent a good chunk of time continuing to introduce ourselves to new members and committee staff in an attempt to set us up for an impactful year.

 

While it remains to be seen what crypto policy priorities policymakers will take up, February’s Senate Banking hearing on crypto demonstrated strongly negative sentiment due to the collapse of FTX and the ample amount of work in Congress we have to do this year.

 

Rebutting a Former SEC Official on the Merits of Crypto

 

In late January, former Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) official John Reed Stark took to Twitter to review the “design language” of the “crypto-Ponzi” scheme. We rebutted his flawed reasoning in an op-ed in CoinDesk.

 

In the piece, DEF’s Miller Whitehouse-Levine argues that “we shouldn’t wholly write off a technology that has real promise, nor should we pass harsh judgment on users and developers for not yet fulfilling the aspirations of this new technology – aspirations that include solving some of our most intractable, costly and long-standing societal problems.”

 

You can read the full op-ed here.

 

Media

Podcasts

 

Op-Eds

 

Print/Online

 

  • POLITICO: Crypto isn’t getting a new U.S. rulebook

    • It’s also unclear how lawmakers like Brown and Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) — who also sees little use for digital currency — would ever align with innovation-loving Republicans like House Financial Services Chair Patrick McHenry (R-N.C.) and Majority Whip Tom Emmer.“I don’t know if the Overton window of those individuals overlap at all on crypto,” DeFi Education Fund policy director Miller Whitehouse-Levine told MM.

 

  • New York Times Dealbook: Investors Await a Momentous Inflation Report

    • The left-right divisions run deep. Despite a shared sense of urgency, the gulf between party leaders on the details of any approach to crypto regulation is wide, said Miller Whitehouse-Levine, policy director of the DeFi Education Fund, a crypto lobbying group. “It’ll be a lot of work to get consensus,” he said, and he doesn’t foresee legislation passing any time soon.

 

  • Capitol Account: A Crypto Moratorium? Firms Worry SEC Plan Could Close Market Off to Big Investors

    • However, Miller Whitehouse-Levine, policy director of the DeFi Education Fund, had a very different take that focused on Gensler’s oft-repeated request that digital asset firms register with the agency and follow its rules:“This should end any doubt that ‘come in and register’ is a fig leaf for the SEC usurping Congress to block crypto in the U.S. [The agency’s proposal] requires investment advisers to custody all assets with qualified custodians, while saying it’s unlikely that crypto can be custodied in compliance with the rule.”

 

 

Blog Posts

January 2023

Jan 2023
Expenditures

The DEF’s expenditures generally fall into three categories: grants given, internal expenses and operations (employees, rent, insurance, etc.), and external expenses (independent contractors like legal counsel, lobbyists, web development, etc.). The DEF’s expenditures during the month of January 2023 were: $84,271.22 in internal expenses, and $112,812.04in external expenses.

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What we worked on and what was happening:

Multisig Withdrawal Notice

The committee will withdraw 325,000 $USDC and 0 $UNI from the DEF’s multisig to fund upcoming grants and expenses. After completing this withdrawal, the DEF’s assets held in the multisig will be 5,673,857 $USDC and 499,000 $UNI.

Work of the Month: Summary

Here’s what the DeFi Education Fund (DEF) has been up to in January. If you have any questions or would like to learn more about a specific activity, please do not hesitate to reach out.

 

Happy New Year! (If it is still kosher to say that.)

 

January ushered in a sense of optimism here at the DeFi Education Fund. While the 118th Congress settled in, we remained busy introducing ourselves to the new members and setting the organization up for an impactful year. Take a look at some of the specific items we worked on this past month.

 

Welcoming the 118th Congress

 

To begin 2023, we welcomed newly elected members of Congress with a little introduction to DeFi. In that vein, we sent a letter, and shared FAQs, encouraging a thoughtful policy approach to empower the DeFi ecosystem.

 

As we noted:

 

This Congress has a lot of work to do to ensure that the United States remains a global economic power, as well as a hub for innovation.

 

Given the events of the last several months, now more than ever, getting cryptocurrencies and decentralized finance (DeFi) under the regulatory umbrella through the passage of sound and well-informed legislation will be essential to achieving this goal.

 

Click here to read the full letter.

 

Releasing DeFi “Guiding Principles”

 

To cultivate a better understanding of DeFi and provide the ecosystem with a foundation for safety and success, we started a months-long collaboration of DeFi participants in 2021 to produce a set of “guiding principles.”

 

These principles seek to maintain and support the integrity of permissionless DeFi protocols, while providing insight to policymakers as to the workings of well-designed projects and protocols as they seek to further understand DeFi.

 

While initially posted on Github in January of 2022, we have continued to work to refine these principles to get to a place where we can introduce them to the public and ignite further engagement and collaboration among the DeFi community and push the needle forward.

 

Finally, on January 23, 2023 we went public with not only these “Principles,” but also a new Discord channel where we hope the community will continue to engage with us on these issues.

 

Click here to read the “Principles.”

 

Fight for the Future & Privacy

 

On January 10, we co-signed Fight for the Future’s open letter to Congress, alongside Ledger, the Blockchain Association, the Filecoin Foundation and others, encouraging privacy protection.

 

The letter identified four actions that Congress could take to reaffirm the right to privacy and the right to code:

 

  • Ensuring constitutional and human rights are protected online and offline;

  • Working to identify and correct power imbalances;

  • Championing privacy protecting capabilities such as end-to-end encryption; and

  • Safeguarding data privacy and security.

 

Click here to read the full letter.

 

Media

 

Podcasts

  • Unchained: Did FTX Ruin Crypto’s Image on Capitol Hill? Two DC Insiders Discuss

    • Sheila Warren, CEO of the Crypto Council for Innovation, and Miller Whitehouse-Levine, Policy Director of the DeFi Education Fund, offer insider takes on how lawmakers and regulators are viewing crypto after FTX’s catastrophic failure. Both expect heightened activity in the U.S. from what they’re calling the “Crypto Congress.” Will this be the year for stablecoin regulation? Is DeFi still in the crosshairs? What about Ripple’s fight with the SEC? The two crypto policy experts look to the U.S. and beyond for what regulatory battles lie ahead in 2023.

 

Print/Online

  • Decrypt: Crypto Crystal Ball: Biggest Trends to Watch in 2023

    • “I am less bullish on regulatory clarity,” Miller Whitehouse-Levine, policy director of crypto lobbying group DeFi Education Fund, told Decrypt about 2023’s prospects.

  • Cointelegraph: Blockchain privacy groups urge new US Congress to protect privacy rights

    • At the time of writing, the letter had 36 signatories, including industry players such as the Blockchain Association, DeFi Education Fund, Ledger, Nillion Network, Protocol Labs and Proton.

  • Capitol Account: Crypto Turf Fight: a Progressive Attack on CFTC’s Behnam Gets Personal – and Ugly

    • As the head of the DeFi Education Fund, Miller Whitehouse-Levine often notes that he spends much of his time explaining to confused lawmakers what his industry does. Toward that end, the group isn’t wasting any time getting its education efforts going with the new Congress. Today, it sent a letter to every senator and House member that included a “DeFi FAQ,” and encourages them to pass legislation that recognizes the benefits of decentralized finance. You can read the note here.

 

Blog Posts

  • DAO Legislation at the State-Level: A Brief Overview

    • Unlike the Federal Government, states are experimenting with more direct solutions. These early and encouraging efforts in legislative innovation evidence momentum in answering questions about whether and how DAOs fit into existing legal structures. A brief overview of what states are doing can be found in this blog post.

December 2022

December 2022
Expenditures

The DEF’s expenditures generally fall into three categories: grants given, internal expenses and operations (employees, rent, insurance, etc.), and external expenses (independent contractors like legal counsel, lobbyists, web development, etc.). The DEF’s expenditures during the month of December 2022 were: $31,250 in grants; $81,048.90 in internal expenses, and $130,236.25 in external expenses.

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What we worked on and what was happening:

Work of the Month: Summary

Here’s what the DeFi Education Fund (DEF) has been up to in December. If you have any questions or would like to learn more about a specific activity, please do not hesitate to reach out.

 

December has been another busy month for the DeFi Education Fund team, from containing the fallout in D.C. as a result of FTX’s meltdown to challenging the CFTC in the Ooki DAO case. Here are some of the specific items we worked on this past month.

 

Capitol Hill Continues to React to FTX

 

Following November’s collapse of FTX, conversations on Capitol Hill have continued in full force with a heightened focus on what led to the collapse and what regulations are necessary to prevent something like this from happening again.

 

While not directly involved in either of the two hearings in November (Senate Banking & House Financial Services), we have continued to distinguish DeFi from CeFi to policymakers by illustrating how DeFi could have prevented the FTX fiasco.

 

Discussing these matters and looking ahead to the 118th Congress, DEF’s Policy Director Miller Whitehouse-Levine notes in a Fortune op-ed:

 

“Applying the same requirements to centralized and decentralized exchanges, intentionally or not, would be akin to applying the same requirements to airplanes and cars because they’re both used for transportation. Just because both modes convey you to a destination does not mean they should be bound to the same set of rules. Legislation that arises in the next Congress must be tailored to treat DeFi uniquely, with an understanding of its benefits, weaknesses, and potential.”

 

You can read the full op-ed here.

 

As we noted in our last monthly update, “the hill just got much taller and much steeper.” It is up to all of us to demonstrate the value of decentralized networks to our elected officials in order to protect the technology from burdensome regulatory obligations.

 

Ooki DAO v. CFTC

 

On December 7, Judge Orrick heard arguments in CFTC v. Ooki DAO. This first hearing focused on whether or not the CFTC appropriately served Ooki DAO by posting on a chatbot and forum.

 

In our allotted time before the Judge, we continued to assert that the CFTC had failed to demonstrate that appropriate notice was served and that the CFTC's theory of liability is unsound and cannot be stretched to encompass individual token holders. A more detailed summary of the first hearing can be found here.

 

Less than a week later, on December 12, Judge Orrick made a preliminary ruling requiring the CFTC to either serve the Founders of the predecessor of Ooki DAO or to showcase why service is impossible.

 

The Order explained that the Court was unaware that Bean and Kistner were token holders of Ooki DAO prior to the first hearing. Of note, the December 12th ruling did not resolve the alternative service issue.

 

Finally, on December 20, Judge Orrick ruled on the service issue, ruling that the service of the Ooki DAO was sufficient and that the CFTC’s case could move forward.

 

While this is disappointing, Judge Orrick’s order has a small silver lining in the fact that Judge Orrick noted that his determination that “Ooki DAO has the capacity to be sued does not necessarily establish that the DAO is an association that can be held liable under the CEA.”

 

We will continue to follow the case and will provide updates as we get them.

 

Events

 

On Thursday, December 8th we hosted our inaugural “Hill Staff Happy Hour” at Takoda Navy Yard. The event attracted participants from more than 15 different offices on both sides of the aisle. We look forward to engaging with more incumbent and newly elected offices in 2023.

 

Media

 

Print/Online

  • Fortune: A ‘kitchen sink’ approach won’t work if the 118th Congress wants to fix its DeFi problem

    • Op-Ed Authored by Miller Whitehouse-Levine

  • Blockworks: What to Expect for Ethereum and Blockchain Infrastructure in 2023

    • Conversely, we expect to see increased enforcement activity from federal and state regulatory agencies in 2023, which we expect to pick up in intensity due to FTX. Fortunately, we are a well organized industry with fantastic advocacy groups including the Blockchain Association, Coin Center, the Chamber of Digital Commerce, the DeFi Education Fund, and the Crypto Council for Innovation, each of which is staffed with phenomenally talented folks who are standing at the ready to represent the industry 24/7/365.

  • TIME: A Crypto Reckoning Isn't Coming Yet

    • But Miller Whitehouse-Levine, policy director of The DeFi Education Fund, told TIME in a phone interview two weeks ago that “I don’t think this hearing is indicative of momentum behind the DCCPA. If anything, I think it has added much more to think about in the next few months.”

  • Law360: CFTC Must Serve Ooki DAO Founders After Chat Box Uproar

    • The DeFi Education Fund said in a statement Tuesday, "While we continue to wait for the further explanation as well as for the court to resolve the CFTC's motion for alternative service, which will not be done until the CFTC has attempted to serve the individuals, we continue to assert that the CFTC has failed to demonstrate that appropriate notice was served and that the CFTC's theory of liability is unsound."

  • The Block: CFTC and crypto lawyers duke it out over service in Ooki DAO case

    • “Because the stakes are so high and the novelty of the case — which I think we’ve all recognized here — we think it’s all the more important that the government be required to turn square corners on service here,” said James McDonald, representing advocacy group the DeFi Education Fund.

  • Business Insider: Mr. Crypto Goes to Washington: How crypto billionaire Sam Bankman-Fried conquered Washington

    • "They were planning on having a party of the century," recalls Miller Whitehouse-Levine, the policy director of the DeFi Education Fund, a crypto nonprofit. "The talk on the town was it's going to be the craziest DC Christmas party ever."

  • TIME: Sam Bankman-Fried's Shadow Loomed Over Congress' First Crypto Hearing Post-FTX Collapse

    • Miller Whitehouse-Levine, policy director of The DeFi Education Fund, told TIME in a phone interview that “I don’t think this hearing is indicative of momentum behind the DCCPA. If anything, I think it has added much more to think about in the next few months.”

Podcasts

  • Token Terminal: DeFi Education Fund – Policy education and advocacy to help DeFi

    • Miller Whitehouse-Levine, Policy Director at DeFi Education Fund (DEF) – a non-profit organization that explains decentralized finance to policymakers around the world and advocates for policies welcoming of decentralized financial infrastructure – joined us for an interview to walk through the basics of DEF and the important role that Policy work plays within crypto.

November 2022

Novmber 2022
Expenditures

The DEF’s expenditures generally fall into three categories: grants given, internal expenses and operations (employees, rent, insurance, etc.), and external expenses (independent contractors like legal counsel, lobbyists, web development, etc.). The DEF’s expenditures during the month of November 2022 were: $1,500 in grants; $83,425.19 in internal expenses, and $141,357.81 in external expenses.

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What we worked on and what was happening:

Multisig Withdrawal Notice

The committee will withdraw 450,000 $USDC and 0 $UNI from the DEF’s multisig to fund upcoming grants and expenses. After completing this withdrawal, the DEF’s assets held in the multisig will be 5,998,857 $USDC and 499,000 $UNI.

Work of the Month: Summary

Here’s what the DeFi Education Fund (DEF) has been up to in November. If you have any questions or would like to learn more about a specific activity, please do not hesitate to reach out.

 

From the midterm election results and the sudden collapse of FTX to the Ooki DAO case and the DCCPA, November has been a momentous month for crypto policy. Here are some of the specific items we worked on this past month.

 

FTX’s Implosion is NOT a DeFi Issue

 

The downstream political and regulatory implications of FTX’s collapse has kept us very busy.

 

We focused on explaining the differences between DeFi and CeFi and how FTX evidences the risks of CeFi and the benefits of DeFi. These events further demonstrate the importance of implementing regulatory clarity for centralized exchanges while refraining from inhibiting DeFi’s full potential. DEF exists to help realize a world in which anyone can enjoy the benefits of DeFi protocols, public blockchains, cryptocurrencies, and self-custody. The events of November only underscores the importance of our mission.

 

For reference, check out this tweet thread from our Head of Communications that highlights some of the best commentary on why FTX’s implosion demonstrates the need for DeFi.

 

Also, here are two other helpful resources we compiled this month:

 

We won’t sugar-coat it, as our Policy Director, Miller Whitehouse-Levine, shared in a weekly update, “the hill just got much taller and much steeper. It's up to all of us to prove that building decentralized systems immune to the failings so clearly evidenced this week is the very reason we are here.”

 

DCCPA Update

 

Congress appears slated to investigate what precisely occurred with FTX and incorporate any lessons learned from its failure into a future spot market regulatory framework, which means DCCPA is almost certainly going to be pushed to the next Congress. As with the prior two months, we continued making the case that imposing a framework designed for CeFi institutions in the digital commodity spot markets to DeFi protocols isn’t appropriate and doesn’t make much sense.

 

The Senate Agriculture Committee’s leaders have said that they will continue to work on this legislation, and we are hopeful that the next iteration of the bill will more precisely distinguish between CeFi businesses and DeFi protocols.

As a helpful resource, a few months back, we compiled a document outlining the key differences in CeFi markets and DeFi markets.

 

Ooki DAO v. CFTC

 

On November 21, we filed our response to the CFTC’s filing in the Ooki DAO matter, specifically concerning CFTC’s motion for alternative service.

 

We argued that the CFTC “cannot have it both ways” and that to “lawfully effect service consistent with its Complaint’s theory, the Commission must demonstrate both (i) that its method of service is reasonably calculated to reach those specific voting token holders and (ii) that Ooki DAO is actually an unincorporated association that can accept service.” Essentially, the CFTC failed on both of these points.

 

The next step in the matter is a hearing on the Motions for Reconsideration that will be held on December 7, 2022.

 

Media

 

Print/Online

  • Fortune: Sam Bankman-Fried was the face of crypto in D.C. What would FTX’s acquisition mean for regulation?

    • “I see it as a complete vindication of DeFi protocols and their transparency,” said Miller Whitehouse-Levine, the policy director at the DeFi Education Fund, a D.C.-based research and advocacy group.

  • MarketWatch: ‘Is there anything about crypto that is as it seems?’ FTX failure threatens industry’s reputation in D.C.

    • Miller Whitehouse Levine, policy director at DeFi education Fund, a nonpartisan advocacy organization, argued in an interview that the FTX episode illustrates the benefits of DeFi, namely that those interacting with these protocols “don’t have to guess what’s on their balance sheets, because it’s all reported on chain and updated in real time.”

  • The Block: Bankman-Fried’s priority crypto bill ‘dead’ after FTX sells to Binance

    • “I think it's going to take a long time for the dust to settle with this situation, for people to find out exactly what happened and what is happening. And I think that no matter what happens, it'll certainly be an unfortunate situation from which a lot of people can learn a lot. And I think that from that perspective, it might delay the bill,” said DeFi Education Fund Policy Director Miller Whitehouse-Levine, referring to the DCCPA.

  • Decrypt: Sam Bankman-Fried Made Himself the Face of Crypto in DC—Now What?

    • “There are dozens of pictures of [Bankman-Fried] with policymakers and regulators,” Miller Whitehouse-Levine, policy director of crypto lobbying group DeFi Education Fund told Decrypt. “And I'm sure that, for many policymakers, he was the one crypto CEO they had met and spent time with. Obviously, it's not a good look when that one person ends up being, you know, a pretty big disaster.”

  • CoinDesk: CFTC Bypassed Legal Requirement in Trying to Serve Ooki DAO, Crypto Supporters Claim

    • “The arguments made by Andreesen Horowitz’s lawyers echo those of the DeFi Education Fund, which attempt to convince the court that the CFTC didn't properly serve notice and that allowing the federal regulator to skirt existing legal requirements just because the technology involved in the case is novel could risk the Constitutional right to due process.”

 

Podcasts

  • CoinDesk’s The Breakdown: The Fight for DeFi in Washington, D.C., With Miller Whitehouse-Levine

    • On today’s “Breakdown” interview, NLW is joined by Miller Whitehouse-Levine, policy director at the DeFi Education Fund. They discuss the state of regulatory discourse in Washington, D.C., along with key recent events including Treasury Department sanctions.

October 22

October 2022

Expenditures

The DEF’s expenditures generally fall into three categories: grants given, internal expenses and operations (employees, rent, insurance, etc.), and external expenses (independent contractors like legal counsel, lobbyists, web development, etc.). The DEF’s expenditures during the month of October 2022 were: $87,010.72 in internal expenses, and $108,383.15 in external expenses.

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What we worked on and what was happening:

Multisig Withdrawal Notice

The committee will withdraw 450,000 $USDC and 0 $UNI from the DEF’s multisig to fund upcoming grants and expenses. After completing this withdrawal, the DEF’s assets held in the multisig will be 6,448,857 $USDC and 499,000 $UNI.

Work of the Month: Summary

Here’s what the DeFi Education Fund (DEF) has been up to in October. If you have any questions or would like to learn more about a specific activity, please do not hesitate to reach out.

 

Leading up to the midterm elections, DEF has been primarily focused on two macro issues: potential legislative action on regulating crypto spot markets in the Senate (which could have major implications for DeFi) and the CFTC vs. Ooki DAO litigation.

 

The Digital Commodity Consumer Protection Act (DCCPA)

 

We continued making the case this month that regulating DeFi in a framework designed to regulate CeFi institutions in the digital commodity spot markets doesn’t make sense. Because CeFi markets and DeFi markets function in totally different ways, accomplishing the same policy objectives in both will require different approaches. If the same CeFi regulations were applied to DeFi developers, protocols, or market participants, the consequences would be disastrous.

 

In addition, we hope to see more of the open debate this issue stimulated in the crypto and DeFi worlds. Debating these issues transparently and openly is certainly a unique characteristic of crypto and DeFi compared to other industries, and we always love seeing folks passionately defending DeFi’s core values.

 

Ooki DAO v. CFTC

In continuing to respond to the CFTC’s litigation against a DAO, we filed an amicus brief in which we asked the court to reconsider its order granting the CFTC’s motion for alternative service. In the brief, we argue that DAOs are not necessarily "associations" of any kind and therefore may not be valid defendants in a CFTC enforcement action.

 

Ultimately, the judge presiding over our case accepted our brief and ordered the CFTC to respond to our motion. This was GREAT news!

 

As for next steps in the matter, below represents a timeline of the key upcoming milestones:

 

  • November 14, 2022: CFTC Response to Amicus Briefs Due

  • November 21, 2022: Response to CFTC’s Opposition Due

  • December 7, 2022: Court Hearing on the Motions for Reconsideration

 

And be sure to mark your calendars because in the coming weeks, we will be hosting a Twitter Space to talk about the matter.

 

Twitter Space Conversations

In October we held, and participated in a handful of Twitter Space conversations, discussing the various policy implications stemming from multiple pieces of legislation and executive actions.

 

On October 19th, we convened a group of experts from both policy and legal backgrounds for a wide-ranging discussion on how to regulate stablecoins, specifically looking at the draft piece of legislation from the House Financial Services Committee.

 

On October 5th, our Policy Director, Miller Whitehouse-Levine, joined a Space entitled, “Dispassionate DeFi: On Law and Policy.” A recording of that conversation can be found here.

 

As mentioned above, stay tuned for our next Spaces, which will focus on the CFTC’s action against Ooki Dao and the upcoming hearing on the matter.

 

Media Appearances

  • Reuters: You can't serve notice to a crypto collective, say crypto groups in Ooki lawsuit

    • Notably, the Ooki DAO has not made an appearance in the CFTC’s case. But three amici have submitted briefs protesting the CFTC’s alternative means of service: the DeFi Education Fund, an advocacy group promoting decentralized financial products; LeXpunK, a group of cryptolawyers and software developers that offers open-source legal resources for DAOs; and Paradigm Operations LP, an investment firm that backs crypto companies.

  • Fortune: The obscure DAO at the center of a case that could determine the future of crypto

    • “These are questions of fairness and liability that are generally handled via state law,” said Miller Whitehouse-Levine, policy director at DeFi Education Fund.

  • POLITICO: How to sue an amorphous digital blob

    • While the briefs don’t answer the question of how the government should serve a DAO, the policy director for one of the outside groups, Miller Whitehouse-Levine of the DeFi Education Fund — a 501(c)(4) advocacy group that is itself funded by the Uniswap DAO — pointed me to an intriguing state court precedent.

  • Coindesk: Miller Whitehouse-Levine joins First Mover as a Guest Host Interviewing Umee CEO Brent Xu and Pharmaceutical Scientist Gennaro D'Urso

    • "First Mover" is live from CoinDesk's Investing in Digital Enterprises and Assets Summit (I.D.E.A.S.) in New York City, diving into key investment ideas across Web3 and the digital economy at large. Host Christine Lee and DeFi Education Fund's Miller Whitehouse-Levine speak with Umee CEO Brent Xu with his crypto markets analysis, and Gennaro D'Urso, a scientist using a DAO to improve drug discovery.

  • Coindesk: US Judge Allows Crypto Advocates to Join Ooki Defense Against CFTC

    • U.S. District Judge William Orrick, of the Northern District of California, ordered that LeXpunK Army, a group of lawyers and software developers, and the DeFi Education Fund (DEF), a lobbyist group, could file Amicus Briefs, or friends of the court briefs. The two groups asked to join the case to argue that the CFTC should identify and directly serve members of Ooki DAO in a lawsuit alleging they violated federal law, rather than serve the DAO itself through a website chat bot.

  • Coindesk: Second Crypto Group Objects to CFTC's Use of Chatbot to Serve Legal Papers

    • The DeFi Education Fund (DEF), a Washington, D.C.-based lobbying group focused on decentralized finance (DeFi) issues, has joined a group of crypto lawyers in arguing that the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) should not be allowed to serve the defendants of a lawsuit merely by posting on a website.

  • Law360: DeFi Groups Push Back On How CFTC Served Suit

    • DeFi Education Fund filed a motion Tuesday for leave to file an amicus brief, the day after advocacy group LeXpunK filed a similar motion in the case. The court approved the CFTC's motion for alternative service on defendant Ooki DAO on Monday, but DeFi Education Fund argued the court should reconsider that order.

  • The Lexcon Crypto Show: Was the CFTC right to sue Ooki Dao? Hear from Miller Whitehouse-Levine of DEF

    • Miller Whitehouse-Levine of the Defi Education Fund joins Andrew in the studio today to discuss the latest news and activity of the DEF.

  • The ReFi DeFi Podcast: The DeFi Education Fund

    • It's clear that US regulators are shining a spotlight on DeFi. It's essential that we have a group that is dedicated to educating policymakers and shaping the future of DeFi. In this episode, we had the honor to speak to Miller Whitehouse-Levine, Policy Director at the DEF.

September 2022

Expenditures

The DEF’s expenditures generally fall into three categories: grants given, internal expenses and operations (employees, rent, insurance, etc.), and external expenses (independent contractors like legal counsel, lobbyists, web development, etc.). The DEF’s expenditures during the month of September 2022 were: $62,500 in grants, $83,386.43 in internal expenses, and $173,803.75 in external expenses.

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What we worked on and what was happening:

Work of the Month: Summary

(Going forward, we will provide a succinct recap of what we have been up to over the last month. If you have any questions or would like to learn more about a specific activity or issue, please do not hesitate to reach out!)

 

During September, we’ve been busy as Congress worked through the legislative process on several major crypto issues, namely custodial stablecoin and digital commodity spot market regulation, as well as reacting to overreach by executive agencies. Here’s a high-level overview of what we worked on this month:
 

The Digital Commodity Consumer Protection Act

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Arguably the biggest item of the month was responding to the Senate Agriculture Committee’s Digital Commodity Consumer Protection Act (DCCPA).
 

We made sure that the Committee was aware of the implications that the legislation, as written, would have on DeFi.

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Generally, the bill focuses on regulating centralized players in the crypto spot markets, like exchanges, but as we soon came to realize, how the bill affects DeFi was unclear and needed to be addressed.

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While the legislation is still being worked on, we know that DeFi MUST be considered separately from centralized businesses like exchanges, given their fundamental functional differences.

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CFTC Enforcement Action

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On September 22, the CFTC took unprecedented action against a DAO for violating the Commodity Exchange Act.

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We made it crystal clear that this type of “lawmaking via enforcement” not only will stifle innovation in the United States, but also discourage any U.S. persons from participating in DAOs.

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While this action is still fresh, we will continue to make our voices heard, meet and discuss the matter with relevant parties and not hesitate to support and assist any person willing to fight on the issue.

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Reports from the EO on Digital Assets

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On September 16th, the White House released several, anticipated reports as a result of the President’s Executive Order on Digital Assets.

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While the EO reports demonstrated a healthy dose of skepticism in the Administration, we were encouraged to see that the federal government has begun to comprehensively consider DeFi, its risks and its potential. We even scrolled through all the reports and pulled out each mention of DeFi.

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We look forward to continuing to work with the executive agencies as they develop a workable and effective crypto policy framework that ensures DeFi development and use will continue to flourish in this country.

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Promoting our Grantmaking Work

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To best support our mission of shaping global regulatory policy and ensuring that the transformative potential of DeFi is open to all, we actively award policy-focused grants to individuals, nonprofits and academic institutions to fund projects that help explain, expand, and sustain the future of DeFi.
 

This month, we published an open letter to the DeFi community, calling on them to help us spread the word and help us find, and fund, the projects that will shape the future of DeFi.
 

Twitter Space Conversations

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To best keep the community informed on the happenings in D.C., we convened a Twitter Space conversation on September 8th to recap various Congressional Hearings that touched on Crypto.
 

As legislative momentum continues to build, we will continue to host Spaces conversations featuring some of the most notable thought leaders in crypto policy.
 

Stay tuned for our next Spaces, which will focus on the status of the House Financial Services Stablecoin legislation.

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Media

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  • The New York Times’ Dealbook: Warning Signs Multiply Ahead of Pivotal Fed Interest Rates Meeting

    • The issue has sparked a feud among crypto insiders. “Decentralization is a spectrum, and where the line is drawn between centralized and decentralized is a policy choice that Congress will eventually have to make,” said Miller Whitehouse-Levine of the DeFi Education Fund lobbying association.

  • The Defiant: Gensler Rattles with Suggestion PoS Coins are Securities

    • Miller Whitehouse-Levine, policy director at the DeFi Education Fund, called the White House’s announcement a “let down given the hope that I shared with many others that the administration was ready to create a healthy environment for US [crypto] industry and users.”

  • The Capitol Account: DeFi Advocate Talks Hacks, Fraud and How His Industry Can Revolutionize Finance

    • This week we chatted with Miller Whitehouse-Levine, the policy director of the DeFi Education Fund. An early crypto enthusiast, he may have one of the hardest jobs in Washington: explaining to confused lawmakers and regulators what decentralized finance is – and why they shouldn’t be afraid of it.

  • Decrypt: CFTC Sues a DAO, Raising Legal Questions for DeFi Founders and Users

    • In an emailed statement to Decrypt, the DeFi Education Fund called the lawsuit against Ooki DAO an “unprecedented action [that] seeks to create novel policy in response to novel issues, all via an enforcement action.”

  • Decrypt: Miller Whitehouse-Levine of DeFi Education Fund Shares Reasons for Optimism on Crypto Regulation

    • DeFi Education Fund policy director Miller Whitehouse-Levine tells Decrypt's Dan Roberts and Stacy Elliott in our Decrypting Mainnet series at Mainnet 2022 about how DeFi in some ways "came too early for the crypto ecosystem" and that some lawmakers see it as "hocus pocus, but there's still reason for optimism. He also sees Bitcoin as "a DeFi protocol for payments."

Sept 22

August 2022

Expenditures

The DEF’s expenditures generally fall into three categories: grants given, internal expenses and operations (employees, rent, insurance, etc.), and external expenses (independent contractors like legal counsel, lobbyists, web development, etc.). The DEF’s expenditures during the month of August 2022 were: $130,292 in grants, $102,107.07 in internal expenses, and $87,500 in external expenses.

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What we worked on and what was happening:

Multisig Withdrawal Notice

The committee will withdraw 430,000 $USDC and 0 $UNI from the DEF’s multisig to fund upcoming grants and expenses. After completing this withdrawal, the DEF’s assets held in the multisig will be 6,898,857 $USDC and 499,000 $UNI.

August 22

July 2022

Expenditures

The DEF’s expenditures generally fall into three categories: grants given, internal expenses and operations (employees, rent, insurance, etc.), and external expenses (independent contractors like legal counsel, lobbyists, web development, etc.). The DEF’s expenditures during the month of July 2022 were: $126,431.02 in internal expenses and $101,500 in external expenses.

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What we worked on and what was happening:

July 22

June 2022

Expenditures

The DEF’s expenditures generally fall into three categories: grants given, internal expenses and operations (employees, rent, insurance, etc.), and external expenses (independent contractors like legal counsel, lobbyists, web development, etc.). The DEF’s expenditures during the month of June 2022 were: $31,250 in grant payments, $84,801.27 in internal expenses, and $217,342.50 in external expenses.

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What we worked on and what was happening:

June 22

May 2022

Expenditures

The DEF’s expenditures generally fall into three categories: grants given, internal expenses and operations (employees, rent, insurance, etc.), and external expenses (independent contractors like legal counsel, lobbyists, web development, etc.). The DEF’s expenditures during the month of May 2022 were: $31,250 in grant payments, $74,914.16 in internal expenses, and $141,718.80 in external expenses.

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What we worked on and what was happening:

Multisig Withdrawal Notice

The committee will withdraw 615,000 $USDC and 0 $UNI from the DEF’s multisig to fund upcoming grants and expenses. After completing this withdrawal, the DEF’s assets held in the multisig will be 7,743,780 $USDC and 499,000 $UNI.

May 22

April 2022

Expenditures

The DEF’s expenditures generally fall into three categories: grants given, internal expenses and operations (employees, rent, insurance, etc.), and external expenses (independent contractors like legal counsel, lobbyists, web development, etc.). The DEF’s expenditures during the month of April 2022 were: $165,958 (Fight for the Future grant payment) in grant payments, $66,205.02 in internal expenses, and $172,662.29 in external expenses.

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What we worked on and what was happening:

April 22
March 22

March 2022

Expenditures

The DEF’s expenditures generally fall into three categories: grants given, internal expenses and operations (employees, rent, insurance, etc.), and external expenses (independent contractors like legal counsel, lobbyists, web development, etc.). The DEF’s expenditures during the month of March 2022 were: $57,945.98 in internal expenses and $143,929.29 in external expenses.

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What we worked on and what was happening:

February 2022

Expenditures

The DEF’s expenditures generally fall into three categories: grants given, internal expenses and operations (employees, rent, insurance, etc.), and external expenses (independent contractors like legal counsel, lobbyists, web development, etc.). The DEF’s expenditures during the month of February 2022 were: $61,504.55 in internal expenses and $143,741.32 in external expenses.

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What we worked on and what was happening:

Multisig Withdrawal Notice

The committee will withdraw 325,000 $USDC and 0 $UNI from the DEF’s multisig to fund upcoming grants and expenses. After completing this withdrawal, the DEF’s assets held in the multisig will be 8,068,780 $USDC and 499,000 $UNI.

Feb 22

January 2022

Expenditures

The DEF’s expenditures generally fall into three categories: grants given, internal expenses and operations (employees, rent, insurance, etc.), and external expenses (independent contractors like legal counsel, lobbyists, web development, etc.). The DEF’s expenditures incurred during the month of January 2022 were: $187,792 in grant disbursements, $62,505.01 in internal expenses, and $140,831 in external expenses.

Jan 22

December 2021

Expenditures

The DEF’s expenditures generally fall into three categories: grants given, internal expenses and operations (employees, rent, insurance, etc.), and external expenses (independent contractors like legal counsel, lobbyists, web development, etc.). The DEF’s expenditures during the month of December 2021 were: $23,783.18 in grants, $102,107.07 and 177 $UNI in internal expenses, and $76,695.60 in external expenses.

Multisig Withdrawal Notice

The committee will withdraw 300,000 $USDC and 0 $UNI from the DEF’s multisig to fund upcoming grants and expenses. After completing this withdrawal, the DEF’s assets held in the multisig will be 8,983,780 $USDC and 499,000 $UNI.

Dec 21

November 2021

Expenditures

The DEF’s expenditures generally fall into three categories: grants given, internal expenses and operations (employees, rent, insurance, etc.), and external expenses (independent contractors like legal counsel, lobbyists, web development, etc.). The DEF’s expenditures during the month of November 2021 were: $60,000 in grants, $62,572.22 and 177 $UNI in internal expenses, and $167,525.00 in external expenses.

Nov 21

October 2021

Expenditures

The DEF’s expenditures generally fall into three categories: grants given, internal expenses and operations (employees, rent, insurance, etc.), and external expenses (independent contractors like legal counsel, lobbyists, web development, etc.). The DEF’s expenditures during the month of October 2021 were: $45,000 in grants, $26,813.92 and 177 $UNI in internal expenses, and $32,525 in external expenses.

Oct 21

September 2021

Expenditures

The DEF’s expenditures generally fall into three categories: grants given, internal expenses and operations (employees, rent, insurance, etc.), and external expenses (independent contractors like legal counsel, lobbyists, web development, etc.). The DEF’s expenditures during the month of September 2021 were: $125,292 in grants, $18,078 and 177 $UNI in internal expenses, and $28,900 in external expenses.

Multisig Withdrawal Notice

The committee will withdraw 500,000 $USDC and 0 $UNI from the DEF’s multisig to fund upcoming grants and expenses. After completing this withdrawal, the DEF’s assets held in the multisig will be 9,283,780 $USDC and 499,000 $UNI.

Sept 21

August 2021

Expenditures

As a tax exempt organization, the DEF is required to file IRS Form 990 annually, which will serve as the basis of our monthly expenditure updates. Form 990 provides information about non-profit organizations’ programs, activities, relationships, transactions, and governance, in addition to revenues, expenses and assets. Certain expenditures are broken out on the 990 in greater detail, including grants, payments to highly compensated independent contractors, and payments to key employees and directors. It is designed to ensure exempt organizations are fulfilling their missions and merit continued tax-exempt status. The 990 is filed with the IRS and will be publicly available on the IRS website and on our website. Our first 990 will be due on November 15, 2022.

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The DEF’s expenditures will fall into three categories: grants, internal expenses and operations (employee and grants committee member compensation, rent, insurance, etc.), and external expenses (independent contractors like legal counsel, web development, etc.).

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In August 2021, the DEF’s expenditures incurred are: $195,500 in grants, $28,966 and 177 $UNI in internal expenses, and $46,768 and 0.48 $ETH in external expenses.

Multisig Withdrawal Notice

The committee will withdraw 400,000 $USDC and 1,000 $UNI from the multisig. After completing this withdrawal, the DEF’s assets held in the multisig will be 9,783,780 $USDC and 499,000 $UNI.

Aug 21
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