The DeFi Debrief

Week of July 7, 2025: House Leadership Announces "Crypto Week"; SCOTUS on Harper v. IRS; New Paradigm Report; Roman Storm Interview; New DEF Hire

House Leadership Announces Legislative “Crypto Week”

On July 3, 2025, House Financial Services Committee (HFSC) Chairman French Hill (R-AR), House Committee on Agriculture (House Ag) Chairman GT Thompson (R-PA), and House Republican Leadership announced that the week of July 14th will be “Crypto Week.” As part of Crypto Week, the House of Representatives will consider the Digital Asset Markets Clarity Act, the Anti-CBDC Surveillance State Act, and the Guiding and Establishing National Innovation in U.S. Stablecoins (GENIUS) Act as part of Congress’s efforts to make “America the crypto capital of the world.” 

The Clarity Act, the House’s proposed regulatory framework to establish a digital asset market structure, was advanced to the House Rules Committee in a Rules Committee Print (RCP), representing a unified bill text between the HFSC and House Ag bill drafts. Now that the bill is at Rules Committee, it is set up for amendments, committee debate, and eventual inclusion in a House rule for debate on the floor. 

The GENIUS Act, the Senate’s proposed federal framework for the issuance and regulation of payment stablecoins, was recently passed out of the Senate with a bipartisan supermajority vote, and, if passed by the House as well, will head to President Trump’s desk for signature into law. 

The Anti-CBDC Surveillance State Act would amend the Federal Reserve Act to prohibit the Federal Reserve Banks from issuing a central bank digital currency (CBDC) or any substantially similar state-issued digital asset. Additionally, the bill would prohibit the Federal Reserve System and the Federal Open Market Committee from using a CBDC to implement monetary policy. If passed, the Anti-CBDC Surveillance State Act would advance to the Senate for consideration. 

On the Senate side, the Senate Banking Committee is considering its approach to digital asset market structure legislation, following the recent release of guiding principles for market structure legislation. Later this week, on July 9, the Senate Banking Committee will host a full committee hearing entitled: “From Wall Street to Web3: Building Tomorrow’s Digital Asset Markets.” The witnesses include Summer Mersinger, CEO of Blockchain Association; Jonathan Levin, CEO of Chainalysis; Dan Robinson, General Partner at Paradigm; and Brad Garlinghouse, CEO of Ripple. 

Supreme Court Denies Petition in Harper v. IRS 

On June 30, 2025, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear Harper v. Werfel, a case challenging the IRS’s mass seizure of user data from Coinbase. By denying certiorari, the Court leaves in place the lower court’s ruling denying Harper’s challenge to the government’s warrantless collection of Coinbase user data. The decision leaves unanswered whether Americans are entitled to Fourth Amendment protections over digital financial and identity data held by online platforms.

The case stemmed from a sweeping 2016 John Doe summons, in which the IRS sought records for every U.S.-based Coinbase user active between 2013 and 2015, without having to assert any suspicion of wrongdoing. The request covered not just financial transactions, but also names, addresses, taxpayer IDs, wallet addresses, and counterparties. Coinbase pushed back, and the court narrowed the subpoena response to roughly 14,000 users with more than $20,000 in annual activity. James Harper, one of those users, sued with support from the New Civil Liberties Alliance (NCLA), arguing that this kind of warrantless dragnet violated his Fourth Amendment rights. The lower courts dismissed his claim pursuant to the third-party doctrine, a legal theory that says individuals forfeit privacy rights in data shared with “third-party” intermediaries.

DeFi Education Fund filed an amicus brief in support of Harper’s petition, urging the Court to recognize that records reflecting blockchain-based financial activity exposes users to uniquely invasive forms of monitoring. We argued that the third-party doctrine cannot justify warrantless government access to identity and financial records, especially in this context. By declining to hear the case, the Court missed an opportunity to realign constitutional protection with current technology, and the reality that individuals must constantly engage with digital platforms to participate in society. Treating this necessary participation as consent to warrantless government surveillance ignores the realities of modern life. For more background on the case, read DEF’s blog post.

While we are disappointed that the Court has denied certiorari, DEF will continue to advocate for sound policy for digital assets, and fight to protect the right to financial privacy for DeFi users. 

Paradigm Releases Report on Crypto Users in America 

On July 1, 2025, Paradigm released a market mapping report surveying 4,000 crypto users across the United States. The findings reveal that crypto users are remarkably diverse in their political beliefs, interests, and personal backgrounds. For example, the survey shows an even political split with 31% of respondents identifying as liberal, 29% as conservative, and 37% as moderate.

The report shows that crypto users share a few defining traits. Above all, they are optimistic risk-takers who are deeply passionate about their digital asset portfolios — with a significant portion holding substantial wealth outside traditional finance. A majority also said crypto policy was an important or even decisive factor in how they voted in the last election. This may signal that as digital assets grow in popularity, more Americans will demand meaningful political engagement on the topic from candidates and elected officials.

Superseding Indictment Filed in Samourai Wallet Case 

On June 26, 2025, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York issued a letter to Judge Richard M. Berman and announced a new Superseding Indictment in the Samourai Wallet case (United States v. Keonne Rodriguez and William Lonergan Hill). The indictment charges the defendants with two counts: conspiracy to commit money laundering and conspiracy to operate an unlicensed money-transmitting business, both in connection with their operation of the noncustodial privacy protocol Samourai Wallet.

For background, on April 24, 2024, the founders of Samourai Wallet, a noncustodial bitcoin wallet, Keonne Rodriguez and William Lonergan Hill, were arrested and charged with conspiracy to commit money laundering, and operate an unlicensed money-transmitting business under Section 1960. Specifically, the DOJ alleges that Rodriguez and Hill were knowingly laundering criminal proceeds through Samourai’s Whirlpool and Ricochet products, and that they failed to implement know your customer (KYC) and anti-money laundering (AML) programs into Samourai products. The DOJ alleges that by running a centralized server, the defendants exercised some form of “control” over “Samourai,” an amorphous term.

While the new indictment does not add additional counts, it extends the conspiracy period through the defendants’ April 2024 arrests, removes one object from Count Two (the failure to register under 18 U.S.C. § 1960(b)(1)(B), leaving a theory under 1960(b)(1)(C)), and adds a new underlying offense to Count One: conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute controlled substances. It also updates statutory language and includes new factual allegations based on post-arrest evidence. The government requested that the defendants be arraigned on the new indictment at their next court appearance and asked the court to exclude time under the Speedy Trial Act until July 16, 2025, to allow for continued discovery review and trial preparation.DEF and Blockchain Association recently published an Amicus Brief in support of the Samourai Wallet Defendants’ Motion to Dismiss the Indictment; we explain why the Section 1960 allegations in Count II should be dismissed, as the government’s theory of liability is novel, inapposite with the technology at issue, and in direct contradiction of FinCEN’s 2019 guidance — thus violating the principles of due process and fair notice. 

For additional analysis on the DOJ’s case against the Samourai Wallet developers, check out Spencer Peek’s paper entitled: “Prosecuting Privacy: Examining Samourai Wallet, Money Transmitters, and the Criminalization of Innovation.” 

Crypto in America Roman Storm Interview

On July 2, 2025, Crypto in America released a long-form interview with Roman Storm, one of the developers of Tornado Cash. Storm faces federal charges of conspiracy to commit money laundering, violate sanctions laws, and operate an unlicensed money transmitting business in connection with developing Tornado Cash, a noncustodial peer to peer software protocol.

In the interview, Roman shares some of his background and the story behind Tornado Cash’s development, his intentions in creating privacy-preserving technology, and the DOJ’s regulation-by-prosecution pattern that led to his indictment and arrest. Storm’s upcoming trial is  scheduled for July 14, 2025. The case could have wide-reaching implications for DeFi, as it involves questions surrounding whether software developers can be held criminally liable for how others use their open-source code. 

As his trial in Manhattan rapidly approaches, we urge you to stand with Roman Storm. Please also support Alexey Pertsev, another developer of Tornado Cash who is currently appealing his criminal conviction in the Netherlands. 

DEF Welcomes Ayana Dow as Senior Counsel 

DeFi Education Fund is thrilled to announce that Ayana Dow has joined DEF as Senior Counsel and will help lead the organization’s legal efforts. Prior to joining DEF, Ayana was an associate in the Futures and Derivatives practice group at WilmerHale, where she specialized in advising financial services institutions and digital asset companies on legislative, regulatory and compliance matters.

Her prior experience includes serving as an Associate in the Government Affairs & Public Policy group at Steptoe LLP and as a corporate attorney at Dinsmore & Shohl LLP. A former Policy Fellow in the Office of the Majority Whip at the U.S. House of Representatives, Ayana also completed internships at the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission and Promontory Financial Group during law school. Ayana holds her J.D. from Washington University in St. Louis School of Law and a Bachelor's degree in Political Science, Mass Communication & Public Relations from Towson University.

DeFi Dictionary Word of the Week: Proof-of-Stake

On July 3, 2025, Senator Cynthia Lummis (R-WY) introduced comprehensive digital asset tax legislation. Senator Lummis’ legislation addresses major digital asset taxation issues, including small transaction practicality (i.e., a $300 de minimis rule), ending the double taxation of digital asset miners and stakers, parity with other financial assets (e.g., digital asset lending, wash sales, mark-to-market tax treatment), and providing that digital asset-based charitable contributions do not require an appraisal. 

The efforts of Senator Lummis were the inspiration for our word/phrase of the week: Proof-of-Stake. 

Notable and Quotable