The Significance
Why the room needs them.
TuongVy Le is General Counsel of Veda, and spent almost six years at the US Securities and Exchange Commission as Senior Counsel and then Chief Counsel. Veda builds vault infrastructure for institutional on-chain yield. She spoke at Proof of Talk Paris 2026 on the Taostats Stage, on lending, liquidity and risk in DeFi yield.
The Numbers
Almost 6 years
At the US Securities and Exchange Commission, in enforcement and legislative affairs
$4bn+
Assets Veda said it was powering when it announced her appointment, July 2025
$32bn+
Total volume Veda reports across its vaults, company figure on veda.tech, September 2026
The Thesis · on the record
What Tuongvy believes about the next ten years.
01
Custody turns on authority, not on technology
In a signed op-ed in Traders Magazine on 6 August 2026 she wrote that "the federal securities laws regulate legal and economic relationships, not technology", and proposed a starting question for regulators: where do investors still have to trust a third party with legally significant authority over their assets? The same piece argued that "the analysis should begin by asking what authority the intermediary actually possesses, not what authority intermediaries historically had".
02
Not every vault deserves the name
Announcing the letter she authored to the SEC and the CFTC in March 2026, she wrote that "Not all 'vaults' meet the standard investors should expect" and that "Using smart contracts alone is not enough". The letter set out seven guardrails a non-custodial smart-contract vault would have to meet to satisfy SEC qualified-custody and CFTC customer-property segregation requirements.
03
Regulation should manage risk, not try to abolish it
In a Fintech.TV interview published on 4 June 2026 she argued that the question when deciding how to regulate a new technology such as crypto should not be how to eliminate every risk, and that open, decentralised systems can be balanced against user safety. In the same interview she said she expects vaults to become the main route by which most people reach on-chain finance, comparing them to the managed vehicles through which most retail investors hold shares.
04
Banks have something to gain from on-chain custody
Writing in American Banker on 9 April 2026, she argued that regulators need to act to keep banks competitive as on-chain infrastructure makes idle balances obsolete, and that "Banks that are permitted to engage seriously with on-chain lending infrastructure could be beneficiaries of that restructuring and not just its casualties."
The Timeline
Years of shipping.
2023
Named to the Digital Asset Markets Subcommittee of the CFTC's Global Markets Advisory Committee, announced 30 June, listed as Partner and Head of Regulatory & Policy at Bain Capital Crypto
2024
Appointed General Counsel of Anchorage Digital, announced 13 March
2025
Appointed General Counsel of Veda, announced 29 July, leading legal, compliance and policy
March 2026
Authored Veda's letter to the SEC and CFTC recommending recognition of vaults as satisfying qualified-custody and segregation requirements, published 23 March
June 2026
Spoke at Proof of Talk Paris 2026 as a panellist on 'Building Sustainable Yield in DeFi: Lending, Liquidity and Risk', Taostats Stage, 3 June
July 2026
Joined The Digital Chamber's Decentralization Working Group Leadership Committee as Veda became a member, 29 July
In Their Words
Lines that keep proving correct.
“Before asking which regulatory regime applies, we should ask a simpler question: Where do investors still have to trust a third party with legally significant authority over their assets?”
'Vaults, the Securities Laws, and the Architecture of Trust', Traders Magazine, 6 August 2026
“There's real momentum among institutions and fintechs moving into DeFi. Veda understands what it takes to support that shift both technically and legally. I'm here to ensure the platform meets the expectations of serious, long-term players in the space.”
Veda's announcement of her appointment as General Counsel, 29 July 2025
“Joining more conversations about how DeFi infrastructure like vaults can be offered safely is critical to Veda's mission to bring the world's wealth onchain.”
Veda's post on joining The Digital Chamber, 29 July 2026
The Body of Work
What they have built, written, and backed.
Built
- Veda's case to US regulatorsShe authored Veda's March 2026 letter to the SEC and the CFTC, which argued that non-custodial smart-contract vaults can meet qualified-custody and customer-property segregation requirements if seven guardrails are met. Veda and Bluprynt followed with a joint brief to the SEC in June 2026, arguing that recognition should turn on the protections an arrangement delivers rather than the institutional form it takes. Veda also filed a response to the Senate Banking Committee's request for information on digital-asset market structure in August 2025.
- The legal function at VedaHired in July 2025 to lead legal, compliance and policy for a company that said at the time it was powering over $4 billion in assets. Veda reports that its vaults sit behind Kraken Earn, whose deposits it said exceeded $400m on 10 June 2026, and behind MetaMask's Money Account, announced on 30 June 2026.
- A written record in 2026Bylines this year include 'Vaults, the Securities Laws, and the Architecture of Trust' in Traders Magazine (6 August), 'This Is the Stripe Moment for Onchain Finance' on Veda's blog (11 June), 'The OCC must act before banks lose out on the crypto custody market' in American Banker (9 April) and 'The Fight Over Stablecoin Yield Isn't Really About Stablecoins' in CoinDesk (January). Her published-work index also lists 'Fairness by Design: Verifiable Execution in On-Chain Markets', posted to SSRN in January 2026 and published by the Stanford Journal of Blockchain Law & Policy on 30 June 2026.
- DEX in the CityCo-host of the weekly crypto legal podcast on the Unchained network, livestreamed on Tuesdays at 12pm ET with Jessi Brooks of Ribbit Capital and Katherine Kirkpatrick Bos, General Counsel of StarkWare. She describes herself on her own link hub as "a crypto General Counsel, recovering SEC lawyer but forever capital markets nerd".
The next Proof of Talk is in Abu Dhabi.
Louvre Abu Dhabi, 3–4 December 2026. Admission is by application, and the room is capped at 2,000.
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