Enforcement reality

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Neither regulator has brought an enforcement action against a DeFi protocol as such. Both have acted against identifiable operators. FINMA has issued cease-and-desist orders and liquidated companies that operated front-ends and held keys while describing themselves as decentralised.¹ MAS has refused licences and issued warnings to Singapore-based teams. In the United States, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission's 2023 action against the Ooki DAO and the Department of Justice's 2024 prosecution of the Tornado Cash developers have shown that governance token holders and developers can be reached. Both Swiss and Singapore regulators follow those developments closely.² A client who relies on decentralisation as a shield should be told that the shield holds only if the facts of control support it. Those facts will be examined by a prosecutor with access to the chain, the code repository and the governance forum.

Notes

FINMA enforcement practice is recorded in its annual Enforcement Reports (2021–2025); individual cases involving purported DeFi operators are discussed in Part E, Chapter IX and Part H, Chapter IV. ↩
CFTC v Ooki DAO, N.D. Cal., default judgment of 8 June 2023 (DAO held liable as an unincorporated association); United States v Roman Storm, S.D.N.Y., indictment unsealed 23 August 2023. Part H, Chapter I compares the Swiss criminal-law position. ↩

For general information only. This article does not constitute legal or tax advice, does not replace advice on an individual case and creates no lawyer-client relationship. It reflects the legal position as of October 2026.

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Dr Alexander Ressos, TEP

Of Counsel, KGP Legal LLC

I am Of Counsel with KGP Legal LLC in Singapore, where I work with a global client base of successful entrepreneurs and their families, independent asset managers, commodity trading houses and other commercial clients. I am a German and Swiss attorney-at-law, also admitted as a solicitor in England & Wales and in Hong Kong. I divide my time between Zug in Switzerland, Singapore and Hong Kong. Since 2017 I have advised international clients on more than 700 crypto and digital asset projects. I also have extensive experience in cross-border litigation and arbitration in Singapore, Hong Kong and other markets in South-East Asia and Greater China.

I operate across the key financial centres in South-East Asia, the Middle East and Switzerland, with a particular focus on asset protection, international tax and estate planning, as well as trusts, company administration and other fiduciary services. My philosophy is to serve as a trusted advisor working closely with my clients and to help them achieve their commercial objectives.

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