DeFi May Struggle to Stay Decentralized After New EU Law

Cointelegraph · 2024-05-14T13:13:03.000Z

New regulations in the European Union may soon force decentralized finance (DeFi) protocols to make tough decisions. At the heart of the issue is the tendency of many DeFi protocols to have centralized front-ends and intermediaries. The EU’s Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCA), which will come into full force by the end of 2024, will require DeFi protocols to adhere to the same licensing and Know Your Customer (KYC) requirements as traditional financial services firms — a burden many DeFi protocols may be unable or unwilling to bear. According to MakerDAO co-founder Rune Christensen, “Only fully decentralized, local, downloaded frontends or full-KYC online frontends would be possible.” Source: Rune This leaves DeFi protocols with a choice: Either pivot to a somewhat centralized “hybrid finance” (HyFi) model to comply with EU regulations or decentralize entirely. “True” DeFi is exempt from MiCA Within the actual EU regulation, fully decentralized protocols are exempt from falling into the MiCA requirements, as mentioned in Recital 22: “Where crypto-asset services are provided in a fully decentralized manner without any intermediary, they should not fall within the scope of this Regulation.” Oliver Völkel, an attorney and partner at the law firm Stadler Völkel, has studied the EU’s regulation of crypto assets in depth. He told Cointelegraph that the immediate question posed by this section of MiCA is what exactly is meant by “without an intermediary” and “in a fully decentralized manner”? He said, “Smart contracts that are used in the provision of a crypto-asset service are in themselves not even suitable to create the appearance of exclusive decentralization.” Companies can use smart contracts to provide crypto-asset services in their name. Völkel concluded that in such cases, the smart contract is merely a tool used by a company. Only natural persons and legal entities can hold rights and obligations, make and receive legal declarations, provide and receive services, and be the addressee of a law or be supervised under an act such as MiCA. Recent: Despite Bitcoin price volatility, factors point to BTC’s long-term success However, Völkel believes that EU lawmakers correctly recognize that “none of this is the case if a crypto-asset service can be accessed without an intermediary in an exclusively decentralized manner.” With MiCA set to come fully into force by the end of 2024, DeFi protocols operating in Europe will have to decide whether to fully decentralize, effectively side-stepping regulations, or apply KYC measures like any other centralized company that offers financial services. Will DeFi split in two? Nathan Catania, a partner at XReg Consulting — a consulting firm specializing in crypto-asset regulation — told Cointelegraph that the new wave of regulation could split the sector: “Regulation represents a fork in the road for many DeFi projects. They will either embrace decentralization and move further outside the regulatory perimeter or accept that some regulation is required based on their particular model and move toward more of a hybrid finance state.” In his opinion, “For those that do embrace decentralization, regulation such as that MiCA in Europe will draw clearer lines in the sand.” This new set of rules will provide more clarity on how to build truly decentralized applications to comply with the regulatory requirements. Indeed, many DeFi protocols will have to take a hard look at how they do business to ensure their platforms are truly decentralized and don’t fall afoul of the law. Catania suggested they thoroughly assess the regulation and engage with their national regulatory authorities to ensure they are protected, if possible. The DeFi sector can implement several workarounds to ensure decentralization, one important one being the decentralization of website front ends. Decentralized web hosting involves deploying websites on peer-to-peer (P2P) servers using advanced cryptography. Thomas Kroes, deputy executive director of Urbit — an open-source, P2P decentralized personal sever platform — explained to Cointelegraph that decentralized hosting offers protection for front-end services, as they can’t be taken down. He said that even Urbit couldn’t remove the content on its nodes if required. Whichever path a protocol chooses, regulation is here. Advocates of decentralization may soon see DeFi transform into something closer to traditional finance, the very industry they set out to disrupt. Will the industry thrive in a decentralized digital universe, or will the potential injection of capital from traditional market movers change the sector? DeFi needs to comply to attract institutional investors Regulators are giving increased attention to DeFi as the sector matures and grows in popularity, as exemplified by the EU’s MiCA and the United States Securities and Exchange Commission’s enforcement actions against popular DeFi protocols. On April 10, 2024, Uniswap became the first decentralized protocol to be issued a Wells notice — an official notification issued by regulators to inform individuals or companies that the regulator has completed an investigation and discovered infractions that will be brought to court. The CEO of Uniswap, Hayden Adams, responded that he wasn’t surprised, “just annoyed, disappointed, and ready to fight.” Adam Simmons, chief strategy officer at DeFi platform Radix, told Cointelegraph that most people would agree that some safeguards are needed. He believes that regulatory requirements for the DeFi sector are likely inevitable, particularly if the industry aims to achieve global adoption. Instalabs’ CEO Edward Adlard told Cointelegraph, “DeFi’s next evolutionary step is to get institutional, traditional finance money to participate.” However, he believes there are two main obstacles. First, TradFi companies are not operationally set up to use crypto tools. Second, TradFi companies need to figure out how they can legally access these products and offer them to clients: “DeFi DApps need to walk a line between implementing enough AML procedures to attract TradFi liquidity and not become a target for regulatory action.” Reader: MakerDAO and Aave’s DeFi conflict reopens over DAI’s perceived risk growth Compliance tools are already available. Simmons explained that the DeFi sector in Europe could use a system of trustworthy issuers that handle ID verification independently. Adlard noted that DeFi KYC service Instapass could create custom credentials that fulfill EU regulations, adding that “DeFi DApps could easily make access to specific parts of their product contingent on users having that credential.” Regardless of whether a DeFi protocol chooses to pursue institutional adoption or complete decentralization, it will have to adjust to adapt to the shifting legal landscape in the European Union.

歐盟的新法規可能很快會迫使去中心化金融（DeFi）協議做出艱難的決定。
問題的核心是許多 DeFi 協議傾向於擁有中心化的前端和中介機構。
歐盟的加密資產市場監管局 (MiCA) 將於 2024 年底全面生效，該監管局將要求 DeFi 協議遵守與傳統金融服務公司相同的許可和了解你的客戶 (KYC) 要求——這是許多 DeFi 協議可能無法或不願承擔的負擔。
MakerDAO 聯合創始人 Rune Christensen 表示：“只有完全去中心化、本地化、下載的前端或完整的 KYC 在線前端纔有可能實現。”
來源：符文
這讓 DeFi 協議面臨一個選擇：要麼轉向某種程度上中心化的“混合金融”（HyFi）模式以遵守歐盟法規，要麼完全去中心化。
“真正的” DeFi 不受 MiCA 約束
在實際的歐盟法規中，完全去中心化的協議不受 MiCA 要求的約束，如第 22 條所述：
“如果加密資產服務以完全去中心化的方式提供，且沒有任何中介機構，則不屬於本法規的適用範圍。”
Stadler Völkel律師事務所律師兼合夥人Oliver Völkel對歐盟對加密資產的監管進行了深入研究。
他告訴 Cointelegraph，MiCA 這一部分提出的直接問題是“無需中介”和“完全去中心化的方式”到底是什麼意思？
他說道：“用於提供加密資產服務的智能合約本身甚至不適合營造出獨家去中心化的表象。”
公司可以使用智能合約以自己的名義提供加密資產服務。Völkel 總結說，在這種情況下，智能合約僅僅是公司使用的工具。
只有自然人和法人才能擁有權利和義務、作出和接受法律聲明、提供和接受服務，併成爲法律的對象或受到 MiCA 等法案的監督。
近期：儘管比特幣價格波動，但有跡象表明 BTC 的長期成功
然而，Völkel 認爲，歐盟立法者正確地認識到“如果能夠以完全去中心化的方式，不通過中介機構訪問加密資產服務，那麼上述情況就都不存在了。”
隨着 MiCA 將於 2024 年底全面生效，在歐洲運營的 DeFi 協議將不得不決定是完全去中心化，有效規避監管，還是像任何其他提供金融服務的中心化公司一樣應用 KYC 措施。
DeFi 會分裂嗎？
XReg Consulting（一家專門從事加密資產監管的諮詢公司）合夥人 Nathan Catania 告訴 Cointelegraph，新一波監管浪潮可能會分裂該行業：
“監管是許多 DeFi 項目面臨的一個分叉。他們要麼接受去中心化，進一步脫離監管範圍，要麼接受根據其特定模式需要進行一些監管，並走向混合金融狀態。”
他認爲，“對於那些確實擁抱去中心化的國家來說，歐洲 MiCA 等法規將劃出更清晰的界線。”這套新規則將更清楚地說明如何構建真正去中心化的應用程序以符合監管要求。
事實上，許多 DeFi 協議必須認真審視其經營方式，以確保其平臺真正實現去中心化且不違反法律。
卡塔尼亞建議他們徹底評估法規，並與國家監管機構合作，以確保他們受到保護（如果可能）。
DeFi 行業可以實施多種變通方法來確保去中心化，其中最重要的一種就是網站前端的去中心化。去中心化網絡託管涉及使用高級加密技術在對等 (P2P) 服務器上部署網站。
Urbit 是一個開源的 P2P 去中心化個人服務器平臺，其副執行董事 Thomas Kroes 向 Cointelegraph 解釋說，去中心化託管爲前端服務提供了保護，因爲它們無法被刪除。他說，即使是 Urbit 也無法在必要時刪除其節點上的內容。
無論協議選擇哪條路徑，監管都存在。
去中心化的倡導者可能很快就會看到 DeFi 轉變爲更接近傳統金融的東西，而傳統金融正是他們想要顛覆的行業。
這個行業會在去中心化的數字世界中蓬勃發展嗎？還是傳統市場推動者的潛在資本注入會改變該行業？
DeFi 需要遵守規定才能吸引機構投資者
隨着 DeFi 行業日趨成熟和普及，監管機構對 DeFi 的關注度也不斷提高，歐盟的 MiCA 和美國證券交易委員會針對流行的 DeFi 協議採取的執法行動就是很好的例子。
2024 年 4 月 10 日，Uniswap 成爲第一個發佈威爾斯通知的去中心化協議——威爾斯通知是監管機構發佈的官方通知，告知個人或公司監管機構已完成調查並發現將訴諸法庭的違規行爲。
Uniswap 首席執行官海登·亞當斯 (Hayden Adams) 迴應稱，他並不感到驚訝，“只是感到惱火、失望，並準備反抗”。
DeFi 平臺 Radix 首席戰略官 Adam Simmons 告訴 Cointelegraph，大多數人都會同意需要採取一些保護措施。
他認爲，DeFi 領域的監管要求可能是不可避免的，特別是如果該行業旨在實現全球採用。
Instalabs 首席執行官 Edward Adlard 告訴 Cointelegraph，“DeFi 的下一步進化是讓機構、傳統金融資金參與進來。”
不過，他認爲主要存在兩個障礙。首先，TradFi 公司在運營上並未做好使用加密工具的準備。
其次，TradFi 公司需要弄清楚如何合法地獲取這些產品並將其提供給客戶：“DeFi DApp 需要在實施足夠的反洗錢程序以吸引 TradFi 流動性與不成爲監管行動目標之間找到平衡。”
讀者：MakerDAO 和 Aave 的 DeFi 衝突因 DAI 感知風險增長而重新爆發
合規工具已經可用。西蒙斯解釋說，歐洲的 DeFi 行業可以使用一套值得信賴的發行人系統，獨立處理身份驗證。
Adlard 指出，DeFi KYC 服務 Instapass 可以創建符合歐盟法規的自定義憑證，並補充說“DeFi DApps 可以輕鬆地讓用戶訪問其產品的特定部分，這取決於用戶是否擁有該憑證。”
無論 DeFi 協議選擇追求機構採用還是完全去中心化，它都必須進行調整以適應歐盟不斷變化的法律格局。

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