A16z Crypto and advocacy group call for NFT, DeFi app safe harbor at SEC

The two entities requested that the financial regulator provide a "safe harbor" for certain applications under the SEC's broker-dealer registration requirements.

Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) and the advocacy organization DeFi Education Fund have asked the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to set up a safe harbor program for non-fungible token (NFT) and decentralized finance (DeFi) applications from the agency’s broker-dealer registration requirements.

In a Wednesday letter to SEC Commissioner and Crypto Task Force head Hester Peirce, a16z and the DeFi group said they were following up on US President Donald Trump’s Working Group on Digital Assets call to “provide relief for certain DeFi service providers from the broker-dealer [...], exchange [...], and clearing agency [...] registration provisions of the Exchange Act.”

In July, SEC Chair Paul Atkins also said he had directed the agency’s staff to “update antiquated agency rules and regulations” concerning certain crypto and blockchain applications. 

Read more