SEC staff have finally answered a long-standing question about governance tokens — and the answer is reassuring for DeFi.
The facts: On Nov. 2, 2026, staff from the SEC’s Division of Corporation Finance added three answers (Q1.4–Q1.6) to their crypto asset FAQ. The gist: Token holders who vote independently in a broad, rules-based governance system generally are NOT considered a single controlling group — as long as they are not affiliated and have no side agreement to act together. Their example is Uniswap ($UNI ): holders vote on the treasury and protocol parameters, including through the Wyoming DUNA structure. The caveat matters: this is staff guidance, not law; it does not classify UNI or any other token as a commodity, and control by a handful of parties could still be viewed as centralized control.
My take: This is not “the SEC endorses UNI” — and posts claiming that should raise suspicion. What’s changed is the framework for assessing these projects: genuinely distributed governance now has written support, while projects whose votes are controlled by a handful of wallets remain at risk. UNI is around $6.99 this morning — the market hasn’t over-celebrated, and I think that’s reasonable because this is guidance, not legislation. One layer of uncertainty has been reduced, not eliminated — lasting certainty still awaits a new Congress after today’s election.
What I’m watching next: projects that start citing this FAQ in their marketing (a red flag if they claim it’s official approval), and what Congress does after the Nov. 3 election about the CLARITY Act, which has been stalled since September.
Do you think guidance like this is enough to give DeFi projects the confidence to expand in the U.S., or is it still too fragile because it could be reversed at any time?
This is my analysis, not financial advice — always DYOR.
#RegulasiCrypto #DeFi $UNI
The facts: On Nov. 2, 2026, staff from the SEC’s Division of Corporation Finance added three answers (Q1.4–Q1.6) to their crypto asset FAQ. The gist: Token holders who vote independently in a broad, rules-based governance system generally are NOT considered a single controlling group — as long as they are not affiliated and have no side agreement to act together. Their example is Uniswap ($UNI ): holders vote on the treasury and protocol parameters, including through the Wyoming DUNA structure. The caveat matters: this is staff guidance, not law; it does not classify UNI or any other token as a commodity, and control by a handful of parties could still be viewed as centralized control.
My take: This is not “the SEC endorses UNI” — and posts claiming that should raise suspicion. What’s changed is the framework for assessing these projects: genuinely distributed governance now has written support, while projects whose votes are controlled by a handful of wallets remain at risk. UNI is around $6.99 this morning — the market hasn’t over-celebrated, and I think that’s reasonable because this is guidance, not legislation. One layer of uncertainty has been reduced, not eliminated — lasting certainty still awaits a new Congress after today’s election.
What I’m watching next: projects that start citing this FAQ in their marketing (a red flag if they claim it’s official approval), and what Congress does after the Nov. 3 election about the CLARITY Act, which has been stalled since September.
Do you think guidance like this is enough to give DeFi projects the confidence to expand in the U.S., or is it still too fragile because it could be reversed at any time?
This is my analysis, not financial advice — always DYOR.
#RegulasiCrypto #DeFi $UNI