MakerDAO co-founder: New EU regulations may require DeFi frontends to obtain licenses to operate

ChainCatcher news, according to Bitcoin.com, MakerDAO co-founder Rune Christensen warned that the EU's interpretation of the Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCA) could disrupt the decentralized finance (DeFi) ecosystem in Europe.

Christensen stated that he heard European financial regulators might require every DeFi front end in the region to register and obtain a license to operate. This would prevent DeFi front ends on regular internet domains from continuing to provide services. Only decentralized, locally downloaded front ends, as well as those implementing KYC measures, would be able to continue operating.

It is reported that the absence of front ends, which are an important channel for ordinary users to interact with DeFi protocols, would not render DeFi completely unusable, but it would significantly hinder access for European users, especially new users lacking technical backgrounds. Christensen believes this would lead the EU to regress to the "Stone Age" in terms of accessing DeFi services, while users in other regions would remain unaffected, with front ends operating as usual.

However, Mikko Ohtamaa, co-founder of Tradingstrategy, pointed out that this regulation stems from the 2023 Financial Action Task Force (FATF) guidance. Ohtamaa stated that national regulators could choose not to blindly follow these rules and could even ignore them.