Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) and the DeFi Education Fund have requested the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to establish a safe harbor program for non-fungible token (NFT) and decentralized finance (DeFi) applications, exempting them from broker-dealer registration requirements. In a letter to SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce, they emphasized the need for regulatory relief as outlined by the Trump administration's Working Group on Digital Assets. The proposed safe harbor aims to protect developers from enforcement actions for operating as unregistered dealers, thus fostering innovation without fear of misapplication of outdated regulations. A16z also previously recommended safe harbors for airdrops and network tokens. Currently, there are approximately 3,340 registered broker-dealers in the US, amid a trend of industry consolidation. Changes in how the SEC and CFTC regulate digital assets could be influenced by pending legislative proposals in Congress, including the CLARITY Act, which aims to clarify crypto market structure.

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