Share this article
DeFi Protocol BarnBridge Prepares for SEC Action, Fines
The decentralized autonomous organization is holding a vote on how to respond to securities regulators.
By Danny Nelson
Updated Oct 11, 2023, 8:55 p.m. Published Oct 11, 2023, 8:55 p.m.
Crypto lending and stablecoin project BarnBridge is facing legal action from U.S. securities regulators – as well as fines – and it’s responding perhaps in a novel way: a token-holder vote.
The decentralized finance (DeFi) protocol opened voting Tuesday on a proposal to authorize its founders Tyler Ward and Troy Murray to do whatever’s necessary to comply “with the Order of the Securities and Exchange Commission,” including the payment of “disgorgement.”
STORY CONTINUES BELOW
Don't miss another story.Subscribe to the Crypto Daybook Americas Newsletter today. See all newsletters
BarnBridge sought to build fixed-income products for savvy on-chain crypto investors. But the team’s efforts stopped in July when they revealed the project faced an investigation from the SEC.
It’s not clear what law the project may have broken but the SEC’s involvement indicates BarnBridge was likely providing some sort of securities product to U.S. investors – at least in the eyes of U.S. investigators. The current DAO vote indicates the project’s founders intend to comply with regulators’ demands – a prospect that could mean shutting down.
The proposal includes provisions that would liquidate the treasury “and allow Ward and Murray to distribute the tokens,” although it does not say to whom. BarnBridge’s treasury sits above $200,000 in various cryptocurrencies according to public data on two wallets. Some of that cash is also earmarked for legal expenses by the proposal.
While BarnBridge isn’t the first so-called decentralized autonomous organization (DAO) to face SEC action, it may well be the first to respond by asking its community for permission to proceed.
That said, the vote is at best a rubber stamp. It only had one voter at press time: “BarnBridge.eth,” which is a team wallet.
BarnBridge’s lawyer did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Neither did the SEC.
More For You
What to know:
- As of October 2025, GoPlus has generated $4.7M in total revenue across its product lines. The GoPlus App is the primary revenue driver, contributing $2.5M (approx. 53%), followed by the SafeToken Protocol at $1.7M.
- GoPlus Intelligence's Token Security API averaged 717 million monthly calls year-to-date in 2025 , with a peak of nearly 1 billion calls in February 2025. Total blockchain-level requests, including transaction simulations, averaged an additional 350 million per month.
- Since its January 2025 launch , the $GPS token has registered over $5B in total spot volume and $10B in derivatives volume in 2025. Monthly spot volume peaked in March 2025 at over $1.1B , while derivatives volume peaked the same month at over $4B.
More For You
Stripe Acqui-Hires Crypto Payments Startup Valora, Venturing Further Into Stablecoins
The team behind the Celo-based app is joining Stripe, while the intellectual property is returned to cLabs.
What to know:
- The team behind Valora, a crypto payments app, is joining Stripe to advance its blockchain and stablecoin integration.
- Stripe recently acquired crypto firms Bridge and Privy, and is developing with Paradigm the Tempo blockchain for stablecoin payments.
- Valora, built on the Celo network, became a standalone company in 2021 after raising $20 million.
Top Stories
