Shielding DeFi Infrastructure Builders: A Critical Need

Welcome to Crypto Long & Short, our institutional newsletter. This week, we focus on safeguarding the people behind DeFi infrastructure. Jennifer Rosenthal, chief communications officer at the DeFi Education Fund, emphasizes the need to protect these individuals, citing the introduction of the bipartisan Promoting Innovation in Blockchain Development Act of 2026, which aims to clarify the legal status of software developers in the DeFi space. Meanwhile, Alexis Sirkia, chairman and co-founder of Yellow Network, argues that Ethereum's L2 strategy is flawed due to its focus on throughput rather than trust and value transfer between participants, proposing state channels as a potential solution. We also examine recent market trends, including the impact of smart contract exploits on the market and the shift in Aave's market share following the rsETH exploit.