The United States Securities and Exchange Commission has announced it will be revisiting the proposed redefinition of an “exchange” under the agency’s rules — a move that could include crypto market participants in decentralized finance, or DeFi.
In an April 14 open meeting with SEC commissioners and staff, SEC Chair Gary Gensler said the proposed rule amendments could benefit investors and markets by bringing certain brokers under additional regulatory scrutiny as well as “modernizing” rules that define an exchange. Under the proposal, an “exchange” would be more closely defined as a system that “bring[s] together buyers and sellers of securities through structured methods to negotiate a trade” and explicitly include DeFi.