DeFi remains outside the rules as regulators add elsewhere
The EU's new crypto tax reporting regime under DAC8 is focused on deliberately enforceable targets, while decentralized finance (DeFi) is temporarily excluded.
Colby Mangles, a former adviser to the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development and now Taxbit's head of global government solutions, said the rules prioritize identified intermediaries such as custodians and exchanges, which are required to collect and report standardized user activity data under the OECD's Crypto Asset Reporting Framework (CARF).
However, the DeFi catch may not last. Mangels said tax authorities are drawing on anti-money laundering (AML) frameworks to define accountability in crypto markets, and regulators are closely monitoring whether DeFi platforms can be classified as virtual asset service providers.
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Animoca, RootstockLabs partner to bring Bitcoin DeFi to Japanese institutions
Animoka Brands Japan has partnered with RootstockLabs to bring Bitcoin-native DFI tools to Japanese corporations with a focus on treasury management.
The partnership will localize Rootstock's Institutional Program to Japan, allowing companies to manage their Bitcoin holdings and access onchain financial instruments built on the Rootstock network, powered by Bitcoin's proof-of-concept (PoW) hybrid mining.
The move reflects Japanese companies' interest in using bitcoin as a form of treasury, with companies exploring infrastructure beyond simple protection.
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US senators to consider reforms to crypto market structure bill, DeFi
US senators are preparing to weigh amendments to the Digital Product Intermediary Act (DCIA), the long-awaited crypto market structure law, with decentralized finance emerging as one of the areas of contention.
The bill clarifies the regulatory roles between the Commodity Futures Trading Commission and the Securities and Exchange Commission, but lawmakers and industry groups have raised concerns about how the provisions related to DeFi could be enforced.
Despite lawmakers pushing to advance the framework after years of delay, the debate marks DeFi as a fault line in U.S. market structure talks.
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Despite the token decline, Depin has reached $10 billion, Mesar says
According to a new “State of DePIN 2025” report from Masari and Escape Velocity, decentralized physical infrastructure networks (DePIN) have quietly grown to around $10 billion, generating about $72 million in onchain revenue last year.
While many tokens in the category are down 90% or more from previous highs, the leading networks are posting recurring revenue from real-world usage in areas such as bandwidth, compute, energy and sensor data, the report notes.
According to Mesari, DePin is approaching an infrastructure business model, where usage and cash flow are more than token performance. This flexibility makes DeFi revenues more resilient than DeFi protocols and Layer-1 networks, the report said.
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Launching Citrea ZK-rollup block the Bitcoin space argument
Citrea has launched a Bitcoin zero-knowledge package mainnet with BTC-backed loans, structured products and a locally issued US dollar stablecoin, ctUSD, putting Bitcoin as collateral for DeFi and payments.
The project aims to transform “economically idle” BTC into active onchain liquidity by tying evidence and data availability to Bitcoin's underlying layer. The team expects early DeFi liquidity to reach $50 million.
The launch has reignited Bitcoin's long-running blockchain debate, as Citrea's DeFi movement uses scalable Bitcoin bandwidth and raises questions about how much complexity the foundation needs to support.
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Overview of the DeFi market
Most of the 100 largest cryptocurrencies by market capitalization ended the week in the red, according to data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView.
The Yei Finance (CLO) token fell more than 58% during the week, marking the biggest decline in the past seven days. This was followed by a token called Seeker (SKR), which fell by 55% last week.
Thanks for reading this week's roundup of the most impactful DeFi developments. Join us next Friday for more stories, insights and lessons about this dynamic and evolving space.
