Safeguarding DeFi Infrastructure Builders

Welcome to Crypto Long & Short, our institutional newsletter. This week, we explore the importance of safeguarding the individuals building DeFi infrastructure. Jennifer Rosenthal, chief communications officer at the DeFi Education Fund, emphasizes the need to protect these developers, highlighting the introduction of the bipartisan Promoting Innovation in Blockchain Development Act of 2026. This act aims to shield software developers from misclassification under criminal code. Meanwhile, Alexis Sirkia discusses Ethereum's scaling issues, arguing that the rollup model was flawed from the start, and that state channels offer a more viable solution by enabling peer-to-peer transactions without intermediaries. Other topics include the CFTC's forthcoming framework for perpetual futures, the potential demise of most L2 networks, and the impact of smart contract exploits on the market.