At the recent U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) crypto roundtable, several key figures expressed their views on decentralized finance (DeFi), code, and regulation:

• SEC Chair Atkins stated, "Engineers should not be held responsible for how others use their code."

• Hester Peirce argued, "Code is protected by the First Amendment and falls under the category of free speech."

• Erik Voorhees said, "Smart contracts represent a leap forward compared to human regulators."

• Others pointed out that decentralization is not lawless—it is transparent, predictable, and user-driven.

💬 What do you think of these viewpoints? Should DeFi developers be protected like open-source software developers, or held accountable like financial intermediaries? As finance becomes increasingly reliant on code, how should regulation evolve?