Coin Center urges Senate not to axe crypto developer protection bill

Crypto industry lobby Coin Center has sent a letter to the US Senate Banking Committee urging it to follow through with a bill that seeks to prevent well-intended crypto developers from being prosecuted. 

The Blockchain Regulatory Certainty Act (BRCA) was first introduced by House Representative Tom Emmer in September 2018, with a new version of the bill written last month by Senators Cynthia Lummis and Ron Wyden to clarify that software developers and infrastructure providers who do not control user funds are not money transmitters under federal law.

Coin Center policy director Jason Somensatto’s letter to the Senate Banking Committee, which he shared on Tuesday, further stated that blockchain innovation cannot thrive in the US when developers face constant threats of prosecution and that they deserve the same legal protections as ordinary internet developers.

Source: Coin Center

“This is the same type of activity conducted every day by internet service providers, cloud hosting services, router manufacturers, browser developers, and email providers,” he said, adding that “we do not threaten those actors with prison when a criminal uses the internet, sends an email, routes traffic, or uploads files.” 

“The same principle must apply to blockchain developers.”

Somensatto added that the “BRCA ensures that the next Satoshi Nakamoto, Vitalik Buterin, or Hayden Adams is able to develop the very systems that a market structure bill is designed to promote and protect.”

Coin Center is a Washington, DC-based non-profit think tank and advocacy center that focuses on public policy issues related to crypto and decentralized technologies.

Several crypto developers convicted in the US last year

Its push for crypto developer protections to coincide with the CLARITY Act comes amid several high-profile convictions of crypto developers last year.

Those convictions include Tornado Cash developer Roman Storm and Samourai Wallet founders Keonne Rodriguez and Will Lonergan Hill. 

Related: When will crypto’s CLARITY Act framework pass in the US Senate?

All three were convicted of conspiracy to operate an unlicensed money-transmitting business in 2025. Rodriguez and Lonergan Hill were sentenced to five years and four years in prison, respectively, in November, while Storm is awaiting his sentencing date.

Weakening BRCA provisions could deter developers

The Senate Banking Committee is still reviewing the latest BRCA draft. It has not been marked up or voted on yet.

Somensatto said removing or even weakening provisions of the BRCA would lead to legal uncertainty for crypto developers, potentially deterring well-intended developers from operating in the US and pushing them offshore.

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