Senate Banking Committee Hearing Readout – “From Wall Street to Web3: Building Tomorrow’s Digital Asset Markets”

On July 9, 2025, The Senate's Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee held a hearing entitled: “From Wall Street to Web3: Building Tomorrow’s Digital Asset Markets.” The witnesses included Dan Robinson, General Partner, Paradigm; Summer Mersinger, CEO, Blockchain Association; Jonathan Levin, CEO, Chainalysis; Brad Garlinghouse, CEO, Ripple; Timothy Massad, former CFTC Chairman; and Richard Painter, former Associate Counsel to the President and chief White House ethics lawyer.

The conversation was wide-ranging, but below are five of the DEF team’s favorite quotes related to digital assets and DeFi, in particular: 

1. “To make them more efficient, more liquid, and more integrated across our economy, DeFi infrastructure could modernize the backbone of our financial system – reducing the fees paid by ordinary investors. Tokenized stocks could lower barriers to entry for investing in American companies. [...] Markets are a critical source of truth in the world – one of the last ones that we can broadly agree on. Crypto helps us enhance, protect, and deepen markets.” – Dan Robinson, Paradigm 

2. “We need a functional and modern framework tailored to the realities of the ecosystem. This space includes not just traditional financial intermediaries, but also software developers, validators, and other participants who don't fit neatly into 20th century regulatory categories. [...] We're asking for clear rules. Rules that protect consumers, support innovation, and ensure that the next generation of the Internet is built on American values.” – Summer Mersinger CEO, Blockchain Association 

3. “We need to be designing compliance regimes so that all institutions can engage with decentralized technologies. Government agencies with the right mandates, and a focus on public-private partnerships, will lead to the type of market structure that all market participants are searching for.” – Jonathan Levin, CEO, Chainalysis

4. “1946 securities laws should not be dictating what we are doing today. I hope my colleagues understand this is not a Democrat vs Republican issue: this is a generational issue, and if you took the time to just understand the technology, I think it would be easier for us to move forward.” – Senator Bernie Moreno

5. “For too long the lack of intelligible definitions, jurisdictions, and pathways from regulators have forced digital asset innovation beyond our borders. One of the saddest things I heard was brilliant people in this industry taking up new positions in this industry in countries other than our own.” – Senator Bill Hagerty 

You can watch a recording of the hearing here: https://www.banking.senate.gov/hearings/from-wall-street-to-web3-building-tomorrows-digital-asset-markets 

Did we miss your favorite quote? Tag us on X at @fund_defi with the quote so we can collectively show how much progress is being made on the digital asset regulatory front – from DeFi to D.C.