DeFi will survive efforts to make it a walled garden — Fold CEO

Global
Source: CointelegraphPublished: 08/30/2025, 15:28:02 EDT
Decentralized Finance
Crypto Regulation
Traditional Finance
Bitcoin ETFs
Open-Source Software
DeFi will survive efforts to make it a walled garden — Fold CEO

News Summary

Will Reeves, CEO and co-founder of Bitcoin rewards company Fold, states that decentralized finance (DeFi) protocols will successfully resist government and corporate attempts to impose

Background

Decentralized finance (DeFi) refers to an ecosystem of financial applications built on blockchain technology, aiming to provide financial services without traditional intermediaries. Its core principles include permissionless access, transparency, and decentralization, allowing users to conduct transactions, lending, and investments directly via smart contracts. In recent years, with the rapid growth of the cryptocurrency market, governments and traditional financial institutions globally have intensified regulatory scrutiny over the DeFi sector. Regulators commonly focus on issues such as DeFi's anonymity, consumer protection, anti-money laundering (AML), and know-your-customer (KYC) compliance, seeking to integrate it into existing financial regulatory frameworks. Concurrently, traditional financial institutions are actively exploring entry into the crypto space, for instance, by launching investment products like spot Bitcoin ETFs, offering investors regulated exposure to crypto assets.

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