a16z Advocates for Regulatory Clarity in Digital Asset Report

According to PANews, a16z has submitted its opinions to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) regarding the Presidential Working Group's digital asset report. The venture capital firm proposes several measures to enhance regulatory clarity. Firstly, it suggests issuing no-action letters or interpretive guidance to clarify that qualifying 'Protocols'—blockchain and smart contracts—do not require registration. Secondly, a16z recommends providing no-action letters or guidance for 'Apps'—front-end interfaces—that meet specific functional and user qualification criteria, ensuring they are not subject to registration obligations such as FCM, IB, DCM, SEF, and clarifying compliance practices for ECP and domestic/foreign user certification. Lastly, the firm calls for rulemaking or exemptions to offer innovative exemptions or customized registration paths for Apps that do not meet the second condition. a16z highlights previous enforcement actions that have confused Protocol and App functions, leading to uncertainty that hampers innovation in the United States.