{"id":90916,"date":"2025-11-12T12:05:12","date_gmt":"2025-11-12T09:05:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/?p=90916"},"modified":"2025-11-12T12:10:35","modified_gmt":"2025-11-12T09:10:35","slug":"a16z-opposes-us-regulation-of-decentralized-stablecoins","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/a16z-opposes-us-regulation-of-decentralized-stablecoins\/","title":{"rendered":"a16z Opposes US Regulation of Decentralized Stablecoins"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Andreessen Horowitz&#8217;s cryptocurrency division, a16z crypto, has <a href=\"https:\/\/d2hguprl3w2sje.cloudfront.net\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Final-%E2%80%94-Andreessen-Horowitz-a16z-response-to-the-Department-of-the-Treasury-11.04.2025.pdf\">urged<\/a> the US Treasury to clarify key definitions in the new regulations governing <a href=\"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/news\/what-are-stablecoins\">\u201cstablecoins\u201d<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>In a letter addressed to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, the company described the <a href=\"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/news\/donald-trump-enacts-stablecoin-legislation\">adoption of the GENIUS Act<\/a> as an \u201cimportant step for the development of digital assets.\u201d However, the firm called for greater clarity on whether the law applies to decentralized stablecoins.<\/p>\n<p>As an example of such assets, a16z cited LUSD, which allows for interest-free loans collateralized by Ethereum. The coin is issued through autonomous <a href=\"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/news\/what-is-a-smart-contract\">smart contracts<\/a> without the oversight of a centralized issuer.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p><em>\u201cThe Treasury should clearly state that because decentralized stablecoins are not issued by a \u2018person\u2019 as defined in [the GENIUS Act], they are not subject to the prohibition in Section 3(a),\u201d the letter asserts.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>According to the document, Section 3(a) restricts the issuance of payment stablecoins in the US to authorized issuers only.<\/p>\n<p>a16z recommended adopting the approach from the CLARITY Act, which exempts validation operations, node activities, and the development of <a href=\"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/news\/what-are-custodial-and-non-custodial-crypto-wallets\">non-custodial wallets<\/a> from regulation. The firm believes this would preserve the innovative potential of decentralized finance.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Combating Cyber Fraud<\/h2>\n<p>Michelle Korver, head of regulatory affairs at a16z, stated that the company also responded to a request from <span data-descr=\"Financial Crimes Enforcement Network within the US Treasury\" class=\"old_tooltip\">FinCEN<\/span> regarding approaches to combating illicit financing in cryptocurrencies.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\"><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/a16zcrypto?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@a16zcrypto<\/a> recently submitted responses to the U.S. Department of the Treasury\u2019s first post-GENIUS requests designed to implement the bipartisan and ground-breaking stablecoin legislation. Here are the key points: <\/p>\n<p>On FinCEN\u2019s request for innovative approaches to combat\u2026<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Michele Korver (@MicheleKorver) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/MicheleKorver\/status\/1988400499561799796?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">November 12, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p> <script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>As a solution, the firm proposed:<\/p>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>modernizing <span data-descr=\"Anti-Money Laundering\" class=\"old_tooltip\">AML<\/span>\/<span data-descr=\"Know Your Customer\" class=\"old_tooltip\">KYC<\/span> rules;<\/li>\n<li>implementing decentralized digital identity;<\/li>\n<li>utilizing technologies based on <a href=\"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/news\/what-is-a-zero-knowledge-proof\">ZKP<\/a> and <span data-descr=\"a multi-party computation technology that splits wallet keys into several parts\" class=\"old_tooltip\">MPC<\/span>;<\/li>\n<li>enhancing compliance;<\/li>\n<li>fostering collaboration between the public and private sectors.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p><em>\u201cDecentralized digital identity, created using privacy-preserving cryptography, can simultaneously enhance national security and protect civil liberties,\u201d Korver wrote.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Meanwhile, ZKP and MPC technologies allow for verification without disclosing personal data.<\/p>\n<p>According to the company representative, this approach will reduce the risk of cyberattacks and help institutions combat fraud while lowering operational costs.<\/p>\n<p>Back in April, a16z analysts <a href=\"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/news\/a16z-stablecoins-have-taken-crypto-mainstream\">identified<\/a> stablecoins as the main driver of cryptocurrency adoption.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Andreessen Horowitz&#8217;s cryptocurrency division, a16z crypto, has urged the US Treasury to clarify key definitions in the new regulations governing stablecoins.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":90917,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"select":"1","news_style_id":"1","cryptorium_level":"","_short_excerpt_text":"a16z crypto urges US Treasury to clarify stablecoin regulations.","creation_source":"","_metatest_mainpost_news_update":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[1531,36,807,26],"class_list":["post-90916","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-and-analysis","tag-a16z-crypto","tag-regulation","tag-stablecoins","tag-usa"],"aioseo_notices":[],"amp_enabled":true,"views":"102","promo_type":"1","layout_type":"1","short_excerpt":"a16z crypto urges US Treasury to clarify stablecoin regulations.","is_update":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90916","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=90916"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90916\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":90918,"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90916\/revisions\/90918"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/90917"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=90916"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=90916"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=90916"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}