a16z and DeFi Fund Seek Safe Harbor for DEXs from SEC Registration

a16z and DeFi Education Fund have submitted a joint proposal to SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce, requesting a safe harbor for decentralized exchange protocols (DEXs) that would exempt them from registration under the Exchange Act. The proposal aims to create a rebuttable presumption that DEXs and their front-ends are not exchanges.

The two groups also filed separate letters on September 14, with a16z asking the SEC to establish a registration regime for centralized crypto trading platforms modeled on the 1998 alternative trading system rules. This move comes just three days before the SEC issued its Innovation Exemption for tokenized stock venues.