When Does a DeFi Trader Become a “Dealer”?

[bonk]

Another submission to the SEC argues that current securities rules don’t neatly apply to tokenized equities and DeFi markets. The Blockchain Association’s Trading Firm Working Group is asking regulators to clarify that firms trading solely for their own account — without soliciting customers, holding assets, or acting as agents — should not automatically be classified as registered dealers.

Their concern is practical: broker-dealer regulations were designed for traditional financial markets, not for smart contracts and on-chain settlement. Applying legacy frameworks without adjustment could stifle innovation, create compliance confusion, and mischaracterize how decentralized markets actually function.

[chainsniff]

ppl keep acting like “dealer” is some neutral term but it carries a ton of baggage that just doesnt map to on-chain stuff