On Wednesday, a coalition of more than 100 cryptography companies, technology industry organizations and venture capital companies sent a letter to the managers of the Senate banking committee warning that they would not support a law on the structure of the cryptographic market pending, unless it includes the protection of software developers.
“To create an environment in which innovators across America can build financial infrastructure with confidence and safe, the final version of market structure must include explicit federal protections for blockchain infrastructure developers and non -guardian service providers,” said the letter. “The legislation must prevent developers from being poorly classified or prosecuted as a money transmission operator under 18 USC § 1960. To guarantee legal clarity and national consistency, federal legislation must pre -empt the contradictory laws of the State.”
The letter Was signed by 114 organizations, including Coinbase, A16z, Dapper Labs, Blockchain Capital, Kraken and Solana Foundation, and was organized by the DEFI Education Fund.
According to DecryptThe letter has been caused in part by concerns that the Democrats of the Senate could soon try to insert a language in the legislation on the structure of the market criminalizing developers who publish software used in money laundering or to escape sanctions. Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), a member of the banking committee, was a leading critic of cryptographic finance and opposed the Stablecoin Act Stablecoin bill. She was also frank by criticizing President Trump and the vast transactions of her family in cryptocurrencies and tokens.
“These protections must make explicit that no individual or entity is subject to regulations only to engage in basic activities to create, develop, publish and maintain blockchain networks, or to allow users to access these networks via software interfaces while keeping custody of their own funds,” said the letter. “The legislation should not regulate developers differently depending on the type of software they create when they do not act as intermediaries and do not control or keep user assets.”
Related: dry Crypto Task Force is looking for an entry on the future of digital asset regulation
The groups also urged senators to guarantee a single national regulatory standard to pre -empt a patchwork of distinct laws.
“The leaders of the cryptographic industry speak with one voice on a fundamental principle: public blockchains are neutral infrastructure just like the Internet, roads or bridges,” said Miller Whitehouse-Levine, CEO of the Signatory Solana Policy Institute, in a press release provided to Decrypt. “The United States does not criminalize engineers who build our highways when someone uses them to commit a crime. The congress must apply this same principle to digital infrastructure and include complete protections for developers and non -guardian service providers in any market structure legislation. ”
The Chamber adopted the Clarity Act in July to establish a regulatory framework for the cryptography market, in particular by delimiting the supervisory authorities and the CFTC. The Senate is currently considering its own bill as a bill on the structure of the market similar to the Clarity Act but with some differences. The two versions should ultimately be reconciled if the Senate passes its own version.
The Clarity Act adopted the Chamber by a large margin, with 78 democrats voting with the Republicans for the passage. Any version of a bill on the structure of the market is likely to have trouble adopting the Senate, where the rules give the minority party much more leverage than to the Chamber.
