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Op-Eds
CoinDesk: When Did Privacy Become a Bad Word?
Authored by Miller Whitehouse-Levine & Amanda Tuminelli; August 2023
Blockworks: Crypto rights are fundamental American rights
Authored by Amanda Tuminelli & Marisa Coppel; August 2023
Authored by Amanda Tuminelli; June 2023
Blockworks: Don’t Drive Crypto Into the EU’s Open Arms
Authored by Miller Whitehouse-Levine; May 2023
The American Conservative: The Wrong Lesson from the Fall of FTX
Authored by Lizandro Pieper; April 2023
CoinTelegraph: CBDCs will lead to absolute government control
Authored by Miller Whitehouse-Levine; April 2023
CoinDesk: Why Ex-SEC Official John Reed Stark Is Wrong About Crypto
Authored by Miller Whitehouse-Levine; February 2023
Fortune: A ‘kitchen sink’ approach won’t work if the 118th Congress wants to fix its DeFi problem
Authored by Miller Whitehouse-Levine; December 2022
Authored by Miller Whitehouse-Levine; August 2022
Fortune: What the media gets wrong in its persistent crypto criticism
Authored by Miller Whitehouse-Levine; July 2022
The Well News: DeFi Needs Flexible and Fair Regulation, Not Just Enforcement
Authored by Miller Whitehouse-Levine; June 2022
CoinDesk: The Scarcity Mindset Driving Crypto's Energy Critics
Authored by Miller Whitehouse-Levine; May 2022
Decrypt: Cryptocurrencies Won’t Help Russia Evade Sanctions
Authored by Miller Whitehouse-Levine; March 2022
Media
Crypto advocacy group the DeFi Education Fund has asked the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office on Monday to take a look at a patent held by a firm it said is "trolling" decentralized finance entities with lawsuits over a blockchain system the group claims is "indistinguishable" from solutions that came before it. Read more at: https://www.law360.com/articles/1720136/defi-org-asks-uspto-to-review-blockchain-ip-held-by-troll-?copied=1
The Washington D.C.-based advocacy group filed a petition late last week with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office in a New York district court after a firm sued MakerDAO and Compound Protocol over alleged patent infringement.
The DeFi Education Fund advocacy group said in a statement to Law360 that the CFTC enforcement actions "completely reject" the New York court's finding. "The CFTC's enforcement actions yesterday completely reject the court's decision in Risley v. Uniswap Labs, which found that it 'defies logic' to hold the developer of a DeFi protocol liable for a third party's potential misuse of that software," the DeFi Education Fund said. The solution, the group said, is for Congress to act. Read more at: https://www.law360.com/articles/1719354/cftc-enforcement-cases-may-force-defi-to-comply-or-leave?copied=1
DL News: The Guidance: A peak into lobbyists’ agenda
September 2023
While the stablecoin and market structure bills are front of mind, for the DeFi Education Fund, Senator Elisabeth Warren and Senator Roger Marshall’s bill on anti-money laundering provisions for digital assets is the priority. “What they propose to essentially do is make miners and validators financial intermediaries for regulatory purposes or software developers,” Miller Whitehouse-Levine, CEO of the Fund, told DL News. “So it’s highly problematic and certainly would kill the industry in the United States.” But Whitehouse-Levine is hopeful because “everyone’s objective is the same, it’s just a matter of accomplishing how this objective is going to work.”
“Today’s proposal from the IRS is confusing, self-refuting, and misguided,” said Miller Whitehouse-Levine, chief executive officer of the DeFi Education Fund. “It attempts to apply regulatory frameworks predicated on the existence of intermediaries where they don’t exist, an ‘unsquarable’ circle that the proposal itself acknowledges.”
“Today’s proposal from the IRS is confusing, self-refuting, and misguided,” said Miller Whitehouse-Levine, head of the DeFi Education Fund, which advocates on behalf of platforms such as Uniswap. “It attempts to apply regulatory frameworks predicated on the existence of intermediaries where they don’t exist.”
Miller Whitehouse-Levine, CEO of the DeFi Education Fund, a lobbying group focused on decentralized finance, said the proposed approach would neither make filing taxes easier nor improve tax compliance. "Today's proposal from the IRS is confusing, self-refuting, and misguided. It attempts to apply regulatory frameworks predicated on the existence of intermediaries where they don't exist," he said in a statement.
Miller Whitehouse-Levine, the CEO of a decentralized finance (DeFi) lobbying group, said on the social media platform that the proposal as written is “overbroad,” with provisions allowing it to capture all sorts of entities. He pointed to self-hosted, or unhosted, wallets as one example. “While acknowledging [that self-hosted wallet users ‘effectuate’ their own transfers], the proposal still somehow attempts to find third-parties [sic] ‘responsible for effectuating transfers on behalf of’ a wallet user,” he said. “In order to square the circle, the proposal asks one to accept that ‘effectuating’ doesn’t mean effectuating.”
Miller Whitehouse-Levine, CEO of the DeFi Education fund called Friday’s release “a confusing and self-refuting proposal.” “As feared, it strains to find non-existent financial intermediaries in crypto — including DAOs and certain wallet providers — or to create them,” Whitehouse-Levine added.
"It attempts to apply regulatory frameworks predicated on the existence of intermediaries where they don't exist, an 'unsquarable' circle that the proposal itself acknowledges," said the organization's CEO Miller Whitehouse-Levine. "This approach won’t make filing taxes easier nor improve tax compliance, and we look forward to providing our comments as to why this proposal must be reconsidered.”
CoinDesk: U.S. Senator Lummis, Crypto Lobbyists Urge Court to Dismiss SEC's Coinbase Lawsuit
August 2023
In total, lobby organizations including the Blockchain Association, Crypto Council for Innovation, Chamber of Digital Commerce, DeFi Education Fund, Chamber of Progress, Consumer Technology Association, venture firms like Andreessen Horowitz and Paradigm and half a dozen academics filed a total of six briefs, not including the Senator’s.
The DeFi Education Fund recently utilized the Freedom of Information Act to file a request for additional information regarding the Securities and Exchange Commission’s decision not to provide clarity on the classification of syndicated loans as securities.
August 2023
The crypto industry, however, would like some answers. Today, the DeFi Education Fund took the unusual step of filing a public records request with the agency to “get to the bottom” of the commission’s decision not to file a brief in the case, Kirschner v. JPMorgan Chase. While tokens aren’t syndicated loans, of course, there is a similar outstanding question about whether they are securities. Gensler thinks they are, much to the dismay of digital asset firms. So there are some parallels.
"For anything to be sticky, it's going to need some bipartisan backing," said Miller Whitehouse-Levine, CEO of the DeFi Education Fund, a lobbying group focused on decentralized finance.
Blockworks: Washington’s latest crypto policy push: What the industry says about new bills
July 2023
The legislation “would effectively ban DeFi development in the United States by mandating centralization,” Miller Whitehouse-Levine, CEO of the DeFi Education Fund, told Blockworks. “Unfortunately, this approach is not only a disproportionate response to the illicit use of DeFi but also risks undermining US law enforcement’s existing insight and reach into peer-to-peer crypto activity.”
Miller Whitehouse-Levine, the CEO of web3 advocacy group, DeFi Education Fund, told The Defiant the congressional meeting is the next “big moment” for U.S. digital asset regulations following last week's ruling in the dispute between the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and Ripple. Whitehouse-Levine commended the judge, Analisa Torres, for advancing that the 1946 Howey Test, a framework used to determine if assets are securities, does not effectively account for digital assets. “What the judge said is a reaffirmation of the idea that an application of the Howey Test isn’t going to capture crypto tokens writ large,” he said.
“He previously tweeted about being pro-innovation and wanting to keep development of this industry onshore,” DeFi Education Fund CEO Miller Whitehouse-Levine told MM. “Given the contents of the bill, I do think his position has apparently changed.”
The bill would “effectively ban DeFi development in the country,” argued Miller Whitehouse-Levine, CEO of the DeFi Education Fund, in a statement decrying the legislation. “Unfortunately, this approach is not only a disproportionate response to the illicit use of DeFi but also risks undermining US law enforcement’s existing insight and reach into peer-to-peer crypto activity,” Whitehouse-Levine said.
Amanda Tuminelli, who is the new chief legal officer at the DeFi Education Fund, thinks there is probably a better way to get answers – in court. Her role at the decentralized finance advocacy group is to spearhead “impact litigation” designed to bring more clarity about the rules digital assets need to follow. And even though she’s only been on the job since March, Tuminelli already has a few targets in mind. (SEC Chair Gary Gensler may want to watch out.)
Amanda Tuminelli, chief legal officer for the DeFi Education Fund, which advocates for regulatory clarity for a digital economy, said industry players have grappled with public antagonism as they seek the greater good of the industry.
Miller Whitehouse-Levine, the CEO of the DeFi Education Fund, sees the rulemaking unequivocally. “Simply put, the proposed rulemaking makes the SEC’s position clear: centralize, shut down, or get out of the United States,” he said.
CoinDesk: U.S. SEC Out-of-Bounds in Dragging DeFi Into Proposed Exchange Rule, Industry Says
June 2023
“The proposal would operate as a blanket de facto banishment of DeFi from the United States,” the DeFi Education Fund, a lobbying group, wrote in its comment letter. “The actions and words of the commission and agency personnel have created great confusion.”
Blockworks: SEC’s proposed exchange definition would cause ‘de facto expatriation’ of DeFi companies
June 2023
“The upshot of this technological reality is that holding DeFi protocols to the requirements of the regulatory regimes governing national securities exchanges and ATSs would result in their de facto expatriation from the United States. DeFi is rapidly gaining trading market share in crypto assets, especially after recent and high-profile fraud and compliance issues at leading centralized and intermediated non-U.S. crypto asset exchanges,” the DeFi Education Fund (DEF) wrote in a 47-page response letter.
The Blockchain Association called the U.S. Treasury Department’s decision to sanction Tornado Cash “unprecedented and unlawful” in a new amicus brief it filed with DeFi Education Fund.
“The SEC's response is just the latest instance of them punting rather than engaging,” Amanda Tuminelli, Chief Legal Officer at advocacy group DeFi Education Fund, told The Defiant. “Their position essentially boils down to ‘we don't want to engage in clear rulemaking, and we think regulation by enforcement is working just fine in the meantime, thank you.’”
This week’s soundbite honour goes to Miller Whitehouse-Levine, chief executive at the DeFi Education Fund, an organisation whose mission it is to “educate policymakers about the benefits of decentralised finance”. On an FT panel discussing the possibility of regulating crypto on a global scale, the DeFi chief was candid about one of the crypto industry’s central tenets, namely that the rules of the crypto game are set by the blockchain and not regulators or the government. “The idea of ‘code is law’ has run into the problem of reality . . . at the end of the day we all exist in the real world and we adjudicate disagreements through a judicial system in the United States that has developed over centuries.”
Miller Whitehouse-Levine, chief executive officer at the DeFi Education Fund, a DeFi advocacy organization, sees that Gensler’s attitude toward the sector shifted markedly early last year, when he stopped advocating for Congress to pass legislation “to prevent transactions, products and platforms from falling between the regulatory cracks,” as he did in an August 2021 speech. To be sure, Gensler’s speech that day was consistent with more recent pronouncements that the law is clear when it comes to which digital assets are securities and which are not, though the regulator has grown more strident in his criticism of the crypto industry. ““I’ve been around finance for 40 years, in one way or the other,” Gensler said in a hearing last week. “I’ve never seen a field that is so noncompliant with laws written by Congress and confirmed over and over again by the courts.” Whitehouse-Levine believes that Gensler has been emboldened by the failure of FTX and its effect on Democratic lawmakers and administration officials, in light of FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried’s high profile donations to Democratic lawmakers. (Bankman-Fried said in an interview following his downfall that he gave to both parties, but was not public in his donations to Republicans). “I don’t think Gensler has become more motivated by the collapse of FTX,” he said. “I think he no longer faces any opposition of his agenda to ban crypto in this country at a level that he did before the collapse of FTX.”
Top line: F- [grade]. Chair Gensler has morphed the SEC from being the gold standard of financial regulators – an agency that protects American investors and the primacy of its capital markets by adapting its statutorily-authorized regulations to innovative technologies – to being an agency that actively engages in merit-based policymaking. That approach is undermining the SEC’s pursuit of its mission and its credibility already. And in turn, it risks doing lasting damage to the agency and the markets it oversees. Watching: The SEC’s ATS/exchange proposal is emblematic of the SEC’s new-found policymaking powers and its disingenuous approach to crypto more broadly. The SEC claims that it is crystal clear everything is within its jurisdiction – and then the agency subsequently makes clear that there is no path to compliance available for anyone or anything that touches a blockchain-based asset. Indeed, this rulemaking proposes that `communication protocol systems’ (a novel and intentionally ambiguous term the proposal does not define) could be national securities exchanges and does not consider whether so-called communication protocol systems could comply with a regulatory regime designed for businesses like the NYSE. Simply put, if you have to exempt cellphones from the definition of a national securities exchange, something has gone very wrong. Future: It’s too soon to tell, but Chair Gensler’s greatest legacy may be reshaping administrative law in fundamental ways.
Miller Whitehouse-Levine, who heads the DeFi Education Fund crypto advocacy group, said Gensler’s appearance “underscores the thesis that [he] has made the policy choice to try and ban crypto in this country.”
“Everybody,” from decentralized exchanges to open source developers should be worried about a proposed rule change from the SEC, said Miller Whitehouse-Levine, CEO of the DeFi Education Fund. “Everybody and their mother,” should be concerned, Whitehouse-Levine said in an interview. Validators of blockchain transactions, members of DAOs, and open source developers, are potentially liable, he said. The DeFi Education Fund is a research firm which advocates for DeFi with policy-makers.
The advocacy group was joined by the DeFi Education Fund in arguing that the crypto mixer has important social functions and that the sanctions from the Office of Foreign Assets Control could set a dangerous precedent.
Blockworks Treasury Review Acknowledges Traditional Finance, Not DeFi, Preferred by Criminals
April 2023
“While the assessment does, at times, demonstrate a sophisticated understanding of the DeFi landscape, it evidences a tension between the idea that decentralization is irrelevant in determining compliance obligations under existing AML/CFT controls and the idea that decentralized protocols are a novel tool unanticipated by existing frameworks,” Miller Whitehouse-Levine, CEO of the DeFi Education Fund, said in an email. “Those frameworks were developed based on how the global economy worked in the 1970s and are predicated on the assumption that transactions must occur through custodial financial intermediaries, an assumption that is no longer valid.”
Axios: U.S. Treasury looks at DeFi and crime
April 2023
"Those frameworks were developed based on how the global economy worked in the 1970s, and are predicated on the assumption that transactions must occur through custodial financial intermediaries," DeFi Education Fund CEO Miller Whitehouse-Levine said in a statement.
POLITICO: DeFi’s turn in the barrel
April 2023
“DeFi protocols function in a different way than traditional finance, and trying to apply existing AML/CFT rules, isn’t going to accomplish AML/CFT objectives,” DeFi Education Fund policy director Miller Whitehouse-Levine told MM.
Capitol Account: ABA's Nichols Talks SVB Turmoil, Pot Banking and the CFPB War on 'Junk' Fees
April 2023
Not surprisingly, the study isn’t going over well with DeFi advocates, who have long bristled about the U.S.’s approach to regulating the technology. DeFi, they argue, can’t be overseen like a traditional financial services firm because it doesn’t fit into the system – it’s just two parties using smart contracts on a blockchain. Here’s a comment from Miller Whitehouse-Levine, the chief executive officer of the DeFi Education Fund: “While the assessment does, at times, demonstrate a sophisticated understanding of the DeFi landscape, it evidences a tension between the idea that decentralization is irrelevant in determining compliance obligations under existing [anti-money laundering] controls and the idea that decentralized protocols are a novel tool unanticipated by existing frameworks. Those frameworks were developed based on how the global economy worked in the 1970s and are predicated on the assumption that transactions must occur through custodial financial intermediaries, an assumption that is no longer valid.”
March 2023
"No company has tried harder to productively engage with the agency. The SEC's crusade will only continue to encourage Americans to transition to businesses in off-shore jurisdictions, and the consequences of that should be predictable given the multiple collapses of 2022." - Miller Whitehouse-Levine, CEO, DeFi Education Fund
Capitol Account: Coinbase Enforcement Warning Shows Gensler is Nearing His Crypto Endgame
March 2023
"Sending a bunch of Wells notices – my understanding is that it’s been dozens this year alone – moves the needle. It sends a message and can change behavior. So it’s a relatively low-cost regulatory tool…The general strategy here is that I think Gensler has decided that crypto and crypto businesses in the United States are a net negative for the United States, and he is going to act on that."
March 2023
Amanda Tuminelli has joined DeFi Education Fund as chief legal officer. She was previously a principal at Kobre & Kim.
New Role: Michael Mosier, general counsel of Espresso Systems and a former top official at FinCEN, has joined the steering committee of the DeFi Education Fund. Mosier is also a co-founder of Arktouros, which describes itself as a “law and advisory boutique dedicated to civil society and emergent technology.” He’s been active in the crypto policy space, and has questioned the government’s effort to sanction the digital token platform Tornado Cash – a big issue in decentralized finance. “Opportunity for self-determination is foundational to democracy, and that principle is core to both public service and web3,” Mosier said in a statement. “I am honored to contribute to DeFi Education Fund’s mission of advancing informed appreciation for democratization, resilience, and accessibility of the financial system.”
February 2023
Espresso Systems’ Michael Mosier has joined the steering committee at the DeFi Education Fund.
Politico: Crypto isn’t getting a new U.S. rulebook
February 2023
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.
Captiol Account: A Crypto Moratorium? Firms Worry SEC Plan Could Close Market Off to Big Investors
February 2023
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.”
February 2023
However Miller Whitehouse-Levine, policy director at DeFi Education Fund, described Gensler's position as an attempt to cut off digital assets from the traditional financial system. "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.," he said.
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.
Here’s a response from Miller Whitehouse-Levine, the DeFi Education Fund’s policy director: “The blog post is mistitled. The potential (further) broad decline in digital asset prices, the potential composition of custodial stablecoin reserves, and the potential mass use of a digital asset for payments are not DeFi issues.”
When asked about the FTX collapse affecting how Congress viewed crypto legislations, Whitehouse-Levine says, “Everybody felt burnt. No matter whether an average crypto user or a member of congress, everyone got burnt, because it was fraudulent.” However, he does not believe in the conspiracy theories revolving Bankman-Fried’s hold on the government.
Capitol Account: Crypto Turf Fight: a Progressive Attack on CFTC’s Behnam Gets Personal – and Ugly
January 2023
A DeFi Welcome to Washington: 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.
Cointelegraph: Blockchain privacy groups urge new US Congress to protect privacy rights
January 2023
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.
Podcasts
Law of Code: Challenging Patents Impacting DeFi with Amanda Tuminelli of the DeFi Education Fund
September 2023
Amanda Tuminelli (@amandatums) is chief legal officer for the Defi Education Fund, where she leads the organization’s impact litigation and policy efforts. She was previously an attorney at Kobre & Kim and Dechert LLP, and served as a Judicial Law Clerk for the Eastern District of New York.
Unchained Podcast: Is This the End of DeFi? Why the US Government Is Going After Tornado Cash
August 2023
On Wednesday, the U.S. Government indicted Tornado Cash developers Roman Storm and Roman Semenov for three counts of conspiracy involving a staggeringly large number: $1 billion in criminal proceeds. The U.S. Department of Justice attached North Korean hackers to a large portion of this sum, alleging that Tornado’s privacy tech enabled nefarious deeds. Amanda Tuminelli, chief legal officer of the DeFi Education Fund, joins the show to assess whether the U.S. Government got it right or is merely misguided in its understanding of how blockchain technology works. Should Tornado Cash devs be held to account for the criminal use of their software?
The PGP for Crypto Podcast: Miller Whitehouse-Levine, CEO, and Amanda Tuminelli, Chief Legal Officer, DeFi Education Fund
June 2023
The Pretty Good Policy for Crypto podcast welcomes Miller Whitehouse-Levine and Amanda Tuminelli of the DeFi Education Fund for a discussion of the fund's recent SEC filing and Tuminelli's experience as the fund's new Chief Legal Officer. Host Paul Briggner facilitates a conversation about Tuminelli's previous legal work, as well as her transition to working in the cryptocurrency industry. The episode sheds light on the DeFi Education Fund's goals for impact litigation and policy work, and the potential impact of their recent filing.
The Defiant Weekly Roundup: Is Crypto In The US Doomed? Regulation Expert Weighs In
June 2023
DeFi Education Fund's Amanda Tuminelli joins the show to discuss this week's SEC enforcement actions and what it means for the future of crypto in the U.S.
Bankless Podcast: Will the SEC Kill Crypto?! with Jake Chervinsky & Amanda Tuminelli
June 2023
Joining us today are the best in the biz Chervinsky & Amanda Tuminelli who are here to answer all our questions about the SEC and it's assault on the crypto industry as a whole.
The PGP for Crypto Podcast: Miller Whitehouse-Levine, CEO of DeFi Education Fund
April 2023
Miller Whitehouse-Levine, is the CEO of the DeFi Education Fund. With an extensive background in public policy, Miller has dedicated his career to driving innovation and fostering a regulatory environment that supports the growth of the blockchain and DeFi industries. Before joining the DeFi Education Fund, Miller led the Blockchain Association's policy operation, shaping key policy initiatives in the blockchain space. Prior to that, he worked at Goldstein Policy Solutions, where he contributed to the development of a boutique lobbying firm specializing in financial services, telecommunications, and cybersecurity. Miller holds a B.S. in International Politics and a minor in Mandarin Chinese from Georgetown's School of Foreign Service. His unique blend of policy expertise and passion for decentralized finance make him a key figure in the ongoing conversation around DeFi's potential and its regulatory landscape.
The Delphi Podcast: The Definitive Conversation on The Government's Regulatory Assault on Crypto
February 2023
Miller Whitenhouse-Levine the CEO of DeFi Education Fund, Marisa T Coppel Policy Counsel at Blockchain Association and Sarah Brennan GC of Delphi Ventures join host Tommy for the definitive episode on crypto regulations.
Unchained Podcast: Did FTX Ruin Crypto’s Image on Capitol Hill? Two DC Insiders Discuss
January 2023
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.
Token Terminal: DeFi Education Fund – Policy education and advocacy to help DeFi
December 2022
Miller Whitehouse-Levine, Policy Director at DeFi Education Fund (DEF) – a non-profit organisation 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.
The Breakdown: The Fight for DeFi in Washington, D.C., With Miller Whitehouse-Levine
November 2022
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.
The Lexcon Crypto Show: Was the CFTC right to sue Ooki Dao? Hear from Miller Whitehouse-Levine of DEF
October 2022
Miller Whitehouse-Levine of the Defi Education Fund joins Andrew in the studio today to discuss the latest news and activity of the DEF.
ReFi DeFi: DeFi Education Fund
October 2022
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 honour to speak to Miller Whitehouse-Levine, Policy Director at the DEF.
Law of Code: Tornado Cash Sanctions w/ DeFi Education Fund Director Miller Whitehouse-Levine
September 2022
Miller Whitehouse-Levine (@millercwl) is the Policy Director at the DeFi Education Fund (@fund_defi). With oversight from the DeFi Education Fund’s grants committee, Miller has overall strategic and operational responsibility for the execution of the Education Fund’s mission and goals. Prior to joining the fund, Miller led the Blockchain Association’s policy operation and worked at Goldstein Policy Solutions on a range of public policy issues, including crypto. In this conversation, we cover all aspects of the Tornado Cash saga, how the DeFi Education Fund works, and outline the interplay between the various government and international agencies governing crypto.
BBC: Business Daily
September 2021
Regulators are taking a close look at new crypto-trading environments, known collectively as Decentralised Finance, or DeFi. advocates say the technologies underlying DeFi offer an inclusive and democratic approach to finance, while critics say it is a potential hotbed for money laundering, terrorist financing and other criminal activity. The BBC's Ed Butler dives into the world of DeFi, speaking with Laura Shin, crypto journalist and host of the Unchained podcast, to hear about DeFi, and the kinds of entrepreneurs attracted to it. We also hear from Miller Whitehouse-Levine from the DeFi Education Fund, who argues the potential benefits of DeFi, and digital forensics expert Paul Sibenik of CipherBlade explains what tools are out there for tracking criminal activity across dentralised finance platforms. And veteran crypto investor Jamie Burke of Outlier Ventures explains why he has got so much of his own portfolio in DeFi.