Digital Asset Market Clarity Act Exposes DeFi’s Legal Contradictions
The Digital Asset Market Clarity Act has brought long-simmering conflicts within the web3 ecosystem into sharp relief. Lobbyists have historically pushed for regulatory exemptions and idealized frameworks, but the reality of today's DeFi landscape—far from being automated, compliant, or immutable—clashes with these aspirations.
Most DeFi protocols operate as custodial under traditional legal definitions, despite industry efforts to secure rules that ignore this fact. The draft legislation, aligning with lobbyists' earlier demands, has now sparked alarm as its implications become clear. The gap between theoretical "clarity" and practical enforcement is widening.