Senatorsʼ Crypto Bill Shields DeFi, DePIN, and Airdrops While Mandating SECCFTC Cooperation ●
●
The Responsible Financial Innovation Act of 2025 seeks to harmonise SEC and CFTC oversight through a Joint Advisory Committee and joint roundtables The bill strengthens protections for developers and innovators in DeFi by ensuring activities like coding, validating, or running protocols do not trigger undue liability
US Senators unveiled a new draft of the Responsible Financial Innovation Act of 2025, aiming to reshape how crypto is regulated while strengthening protections for developers and innovators. The bill requires the Securities and Exchange Commission SEC) and Commodity Futures Trading Commission CFTC) to establish a Joint Advisory Committee on Digital Assets, tasked with making recommendations on harmonisation. While nonbinding, each agency must publicly respond to the Committeeʼs findings — a step toward greater transparency. The agencies will also host a joint roundtable on September 29 to discuss priorities. Beyond regulatory coordination, the bill introduces several landmark changes: ●
●
DeFi developer protections — writing code or running decentralised protocols would not automatically trigger broker-dealer or AML obligations, shielding developers, validators, liquidity providers, and wallet builders from undue liability. Airdrops and staking rewards — everyday activities such as programmatic distributions, staking outputs, or airdrops would not be classified as securities offerings.