Anti-DeFi Group Runs Ads Aimed At Stripping DeFi From Crypto Bill

An anti-decentralized finance group is reportedly running advertisements on Fox News encouraging the public to pressure their Senators into passing crypto market structure legislation that excludes DeFi provisions perceived to be threatening to the banking industry.

According to two screenshots shared Friday on X by Crypto in America host Eleanor Terrett, the Investors For Transparency members wrote: “Tell Your Senator: Pass Crypto Legislation Without DeFi Provisions,” sharing a hotline number to contact their local Senators.

“Don’t Let DeFi Stall Innovation,” another snippet of the ad said, which appears to echo concerns from banking lobbyists over the CLARITY Act permitting stablecoin issuers to offer interest-bearing products that could be disguised as bank-like deposits and potentially draw trillions of dollars from the traditional banking system.

The US Treasury estimated in April that $6.6 trillion worth of traditional banking deposits could flow out of the banking system if stablecoins see widespread adoption.

It comes as the Senate Banking Committee published an official notice for its CLARITY Act markup scheduled for this Thursday, Jan. 15, at 10:00am Eastern Time.

Crypto industry annoyed with anti-DeFi efforts

The banking lobby efforts have frustrated several members of the crypto community, including Uniswap Labs CEO Hayden Adams, who said it was both “ironic and unsurprising” that the Investors For Transparency organization is campaigning against DeFi while not revealing who they are and who they’re funded by.

Fears crypto market structure legislation may not pass this year 

Several Democratic lawmakers are also reportedly pushing for conflict-of-interest safeguards in the crypto market structure bill.