DeFi Compliance for Enterprises in 2026

In conversation with Tammy Weinrib, Chief Compliance Officer at Veda 

As a relatively new and still-emerging sector, the crypto industry continues to navigate regulation and compliance in real-time as standards evolve and new bills are introduced and passed into law around the world. Veda Content Lead Kate Irwin and Chief Compliance Officer Tammy Weinrib discuss Veda’s approach to compliance and how the landscape is changing.

Kate Irwin: Let’s start with perhaps the most obvious question. What is compliance?

Tammy Weinrib: It can mean a lot of different things depending on the environment. But I think the shortest answer is making sure whatever rules, requirements, or regulations are in place for your particular industry, for your particular line of work, that you’re following them. That’s the short and sweet answer.

KI: And how is compliance different from legal?

TW: The biggest difference between compliance and legal is: Legal interprets the letter of the law and Compliance acts in an advisory capacity. We don’t interpret or opine on law, even though there are plenty of compliance officers that hold JDs, some even having practiced law prior to becoming a compliance officer. However, that's not our primary function. Our primary function is in an advisory capacity, advising on and operationalizing regulation.

KI: Given your background in compliance, have there been any big takeaways for you over the years, or observations on how things have changed in the digital asset industry?

TW: I began my career some time ago; crypto didn’t exist when I started, and even fintech as we really know it today didn’t exist in the same form. My foundation and grounding comes from traditional finance (TradFi) in regulatory compliance and Anti-Money Laundering (AML). 

A little over 10 years ago was my first foray into the crypto space, on the centralized finance (CeFi) side. That was in the beginning days of crypto, things were still incredibly new and there were only a few truly regulated exchanges around in the US. It was an interesting time trying to navigate what it meant to be in any way compliant with what were, at the time, only TradFi regulations. 

CeFi has worked for years interpreting existing TradFi regulations and adapting them, to varying degrees of success and failure. Even now in the digital asset space, we still don’t have true regulations for CeFi, and are only just on the precipice of interpreting and establishing meaningful regulation.

DeFi feels like what CeFi was 10 years ago. There’s very little for us to look at from a regulatory perspective, with everyone recognizing if they want to embed on a larger scale we need guardrails in place, or DeFi could run into the same problems and issues CeFi encountered over the last several years. 

KI: What do you see as the essential components of compliance that every DeFi company needs at this point?

TW: At its core, the essential components of a Compliance Program don’t look too different in DeFi than those in CeFi or even TradFi.  Transaction monitoring, sanctions screening, and KYC/KYB are all elements.  However, differences begin to emerge when considering the technology, and the need to build varying frameworks and audits for smart contract risk and governance structures that otherwise wouldn’t require consideration in TradFi or CeFi.

KI: How are Veda vaults adhering to modern compliance standards?

TW: Veda is a non-custodial infrastructure that lets regulated entities enforce their own KYC and sanctions controls while accessing onchain liquidity. Veda can provide optional allowlists so partners can create permissioned vaults where only KYC'd and screened wallets can deposit, thereby supporting both permissionless vaults for crypto-native users and partner-controlled permissioned vaults.

KI: In the US, the regulatory environment has been warmer toward crypto recently. Has that changed your compliance outlook at all, or the types of things you’re focused on?

TW: I think there’s cautious optimism, but by far it’s better than it was. There have certainly been many more conversations these days. I personally have been involved in some of those discussions in particular with the SEC, and there’s more willingness from the regulatory side to speak to those of us in the industry.  This hasn’t changed my outlook per se, but has allowed me to focus more on the policy side and think through how we can develop better and clearer regulatory frameworks built specifically for our space as the various regulators continue to engage with the industry.

KI: How should enterprises be thinking about integrating DeFi?

TW: Do your due diligence. It’s going to feel unfamiliar because it is; it’s still new. But hopefully companies are speaking to those in the DeFi space who have been engaged for a fair amount of time and have built these types of infrastructures before, and can comfortably answer the most challenging questions. 

When the industry has seen large mistakes on big stages, it’s been because the right questions weren’t asked or the depth of questions weren’t asked. And that can be easily avoided, in my opinion.

You never want to walk away without having in-depth conversations with the compliance and risk partners. Those are the individuals you need to be sure you’re comfortable with, and that it makes sense to you how they built their programs within the technological infrastructure.

KI: What’s your outlook on stablecoin compliance?

TW: Stablecoin compliance will hopefully be mainstage in 2026.  Implementation of federal standards will allow for an easier transition into the permanent banking infrastructure. We should also see global regulatory alignment, which will help to manage AML, KYC and fraud risk management.

When you look at the entire ecosystem of digital assets and what can be built, I think about DeFi, tokenization, and stablecoins. This is where the industry continues to evolve. 

KI: What do you think is Veda’s advantage?

TW: Even though DeFi is still feeling its way around in general, in my opinion, Veda’s vault architecture is differentiated in the market today, particularly in its focus on interoperability, compliance integration, and institutional-grade infrastructure.

Another is the type of product Veda offers: the interoperability across multiple chains and deployment across multiple protocols. This movement toward becoming “the” infrastructure provider and SaaS platform makes us unique. 

Lastly, the consideration being placed, and the time, money, and effort being put into the security, risk and compliance side that is core to Veda’s mission. By doing it the right way the first time, as opposed to making it an afterthought. 

KI: What do you like the most about working at Veda?

TW: Constant change and innovation.  Even incorporating compliance is so nuanced, it’s enjoyable to be able to educate along with building something new. I love being able to help companies and teams understand why we do what we do, and why it’s important. A lot of people may think compliance is a one-size-fits-all field, but it’s a moving target. That part is really exciting.