Overview
- Citadel Securities told the SEC that DeFi systems facilitating trades in tokenized U.S. equities should face technology‑neutral oversight comparable to exchanges and broker‑dealers.
- The filing asserts that front‑end operators, smart‑contract developers, validators and liquidity providers often function like regulated intermediaries through fee collection and order‑routing influence.
- The firm warned that tokenized stocks trading on DeFi could form a shadow equity market that fragments liquidity and weakens surveillance and investor protections.
- Citadel opposed broad exemptions for open‑source protocols and argued the SEC cannot create a separate regime for tokenized equities, saying fundamental changes belong to Congress.
- Uniswap founder Hayden Adams and the Blockchain Association criticized the position as misreading the Exchange Act and targeting software developers, while several TradFi groups backed equal treatment; the SEC has not announced any action.