The Political Awakening of the Ethereum Ecosystem: Why Major Protocols Suddenly Band Together to Fight Regulation

Recently, a major event occurred in the Ethereum ecosystem, but many people did not notice: the seven leading protocols including Aave, Curve, Lido, and Uniswap have jointly established the Ethereum Protocol Defense Alliance (EPAA) to confront global regulatory authorities head-on.

This is not a simple technical declaration, but a struggle for discourse power with an asset scale of $100B+.

Why form a group now?

In simple terms: regulation is here, but decision-makers do not understand DeFi.

Governments around the world often draft crypto regulations based on the logic of traditional finance, completely ignoring the specificity of decentralized protocols. The result is that some inexplicable rules may be introduced, which directly stifle open-source software and liquidity protocols. The core demand of EPAA is very clear:

Let those officials who only understand central banks and securities firms also understand a bit about blockchain.

Core Strategy

The association is doing three things:

1. Education policymakers — Speak with technical details and on-chain data, rather than the promotional tactics of the crypto world.
2. Global Collaboration — Collaborating with multiple lobbying organizations such as the DeFi Education Fund and the European Crypto Initiative.
3. Maintain the Decentralization Bottom Line — Ensure that the regulatory framework does not require the protocol to have a “responsible party” or be “shut down”.

Where the real difficulty lies

● Regulatory Fragmentation — The US, EU, and Asia each have their own approaches, and protocols must operate globally. ● Developers are voiceless — What used to be about protocol governance has now turned into a capital-intensive political game. ● Trust Deficit — Crypto is still burdened by events like FTX and Luna collapses, and practitioners must prove they are not frauds before making their case.

What does this mean

The Ethernet ecosystem is evolving from “We only care about technology” to “We also want to control discourse.” Giants like Aave and Curve are no longer low-key and are directly targeting the lobbying methods of traditional finance.

For ordinary users? If EPAA is successful, DeFi will have relatively clear international rules, and there will be fewer gray zones. For developers? At least someone is helping you speak at the regulatory table.

But the risks are very real: once the associations and regulatory bodies compromise too much, the original intention of decentralization may be subtly altered. How this battle is fought will directly impact the next decade of Web3.