Ethereum News Today: Blockchain splits between control and freedom, regulators remain neutral

Variant Fund's Jake Chervinsky said that while enterprise-controlled L1 platforms like Circle's Arceee and Stripe's Tempo are on the rise, decentralized public chains are still the regulatory standard. He stressed that U.S. regulators have not mandated the deployment of licensed validators or compliance tools at the bottom, which highlights the importance of neutrality. By contrast, venture capitalist Revaz Shmertz believes that the enterprise-controlled L1 platform is a regulatory arbitrage that may lead to differentiation of adoption models—institutions adopt compliance chains, while retail and DeFi adopt decentralized protocols. Meanwhile, the DeFi Education Fund proposes a token safe harbor framework that focuses on decentralized goals rather than creation assessments. SEC Chairman Paul Atkins highlighted efforts to increase regulatory transparency and promote innovation, and emphasized international cooperation. Supported by institutional adoption and ETF approval, Ethereum continues to occupy more than 50% of the stablecoin market and nearly 60% of the total DeFi locked value (TVL).