Safeguarding Crypto Values in Regulatory Reform

It is often said that crypto is part technology and part religion. As such, it is hardly surprising that the unfolding regulatory overhaul has been accompanied both by vigorous soul searching related to the state of crypto’s (often anti-establishment) core values and palpable excitement over potential new use cases.

With the blessing of CoinDesk, I asked the panelists of our upcoming people’s regulatory roundtable at Consensus 2025—each of them crypto veterans and advocates for sensible regulation—about safeguarding crypto values in regulatory reform and about the innovation that new regulation is making possible.

You can catch Kayvan Sadeghi, Connor Spelliscy, Lewis Cohen, Michelle Ann Gitlitz and David Adlerstein speaking at the People’s Regulatory Roundtable on May 14 at 10 a.m. on the Spotlight Stage. The roundtable will be moderated by Ivo Entchev. If you would like to submit a question ahead of time, please email it to opinion@coindesk.com.

This is what they had to say.

Which core crypto values are most important to you and why? How can we ensure that they are respected by regulatory regime?

KAYVAN: Individual freedom and sovereignty are core values. Privacy and decentralization are important largely as a means to achieving that sovereignty, which can otherwise be undermined through surveillance and centralized points of optimalization.

To ensure that these values are respected, it is helpful to reframe the conversation to focus on the ways in which new technology can achieve the objectives of the existing laws, not just differently, but better. For example, many financial regulations are designed to prevent abuse by those with control over other people’s assets. But as long as humans hold that power, the risk of corruption and greed will persist and the same problems will recur.

Heavily regulated intermediaries is one path, but removing the human intermediaries altogether can eliminate the root cause. By analogy, one can curtail drunk-driving with stricter alcohol laws and more frequent roadside checkpoints, but those are band-aids on a problem that can be eliminated with autonomous vehicles.

There will be growing pains as new technology is battle-tested, and the risks will look different from the risks of human intermediaries, but the values can be preserved by focusing the discussion around the use of technology to deliver better solutions to problems that the law is already trying to solve.

CONNOR: Blockchain technology can provide users with unprecedented levels of transparency, reliability, and security—as long as policy frameworks allow it to flourish by incentivizing decentralization.

If properly regulated, blockchain projects will continue to decentralize, giving users greater control over their finances and digital assets, reducing reliance on overreaching institutions. Beyond financial use cases, decentralized blockchain networks function as infrastructure for a variety of applications that provide users with more autonomy over their lives, including, for example: social media platforms that allow users to own and control their data, community-owned platforms that leverage decentralized governance to compete with Big Tech, and digital identity protocols necessary for users to protect their identity online from sophisticated AI-enabled bots.

We believe that focusing on control is the most effective framing option for defining decentralization under law. Meeting a test for control would significantly reduce information asymmetries stemming from the token in an optimalization sense, justifying lower regulatory burdens or exemptions under U.S. securities law. We recommended specific control principles to implement in our Designing Blockchain for a Flourishing Industry paper this week, incorporating feedback from 40+ teams, founders, operators, lawyers, and policymakers.

LEWIS: When we talk about core values, I think about the values of those users and builders who are attracted by the crypto space, rather than the values of a technology as such. These individuals, in my experience, are attracted by many things that certainly include personal sovereignty and decentralization, but are by no means limited by these features.

What means the most to me and has driven me forward for the last 10 years, is working with, and serving the needs of, that incredibly diverse community of users and builders - fiercely dedicated to innovation and developing a new “Internet of Value.” We can never forget that, at its heart, “crypto” is a system of tools built from the ground up, not by large corporations, but by individuals contributing their time, energy, and creativity to help make the world a more connected and inclusive place.

MICHELLE: Decentralization is the most important value to me because the distribution of power, control, and decision-making across a network rather than in the hands of central authorities enables true digital ownership and freedom to transact. Where there is centralization and control, we need legal and regulatory safeguards that are reasonably tailored to the particular intricacies of the blockchain-based systems. Ensuring decentralization is respected requires legislators and regulators to truly understand the underlying infrastructure so they can craft rules that protect consumers from loss of funds or value and to safeguard against financial crimes.

DAVID: I’ve been a corporate lawyer for over 20 years and am an ardent believer in