On December 27, 2024, three industry groups—the DeFi Education Fund, the Blockchain Association, and the Texas Blockchain Council—filed a lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and the Treasury Department. The lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas. The groups are challenging a recently finalized rule that expands the definition of "broker" to include providers of decentralized finance (DeFi) trading front-end services.

The plaintiffs argue that this rule exceeds the statutory authority of the IRS and Treasury Department and violates the Administrative Procedure Act. They also claim it is unconstitutional. According to Marisa Coppel, Head of Legal at the Blockchain Association, "The IRS and Treasury have gone beyond their statutory authority in expanding the definition of 'broker'... Not only is this an infringement on privacy rights... it would push this entire, burgeoning technology offshore."

Miller Whitehouse-Levine, CEO of DeFi Education Fund, expressed disappointment over what he described as "misguided and unfairly sweeping" rulemaking. He emphasized that decentralized finance aims to enhance financial services' accessibility and efficiency: "This unfortunate rulemaking is a direct threat to financial innovation, and we intend to fight it using every tool available to us."

Lee Bratcher, President of the Texas Blockchain Council, criticized the new rule for imposing unrealistic expectations on digital asset ecosystems: "The rule fails to recognize the decentralized nature of this technology... This regulatory overreach risks driving critical development overseas."