Industry Group Pushes for Legal Clarity
Coin Center, a Washington-based crypto policy group, has sent a letter to the Senate Banking Committee. They’re asking lawmakers to move forward with a bill that would protect software developers from being prosecuted under money transmission laws. The Blockchain Regulatory Certainty Act, or BRCA, has been around in some form since 2018. But a new version was written last month by Senators Cynthia Lummis and Ron Wyden.
The core idea is pretty straightforward: developers who don’t control user funds shouldn’t be treated like money transmitters. Jason Somensatto, Coin Center’s policy director, wrote the letter. He shared it publicly on Tuesday. His argument is that innovation can’t really happen when developers are constantly looking over their shoulder, worried about prison time.
The Internet Comparison
Somensatto makes an interesting comparison. He points out that internet service providers, cloud hosts, and even email providers aren’t held responsible when criminals use their services. We don’t arrest the people who make routers because someone uses the internet for illegal activity. The same logic, he argues, should apply to blockchain infrastructure.
“This is the same type of activity conducted every day by internet service providers,” Somensatto wrote. He added that we don’t threaten those actors with prison when a criminal uses their systems. The letter suggests that without these protections, the next big innovator in crypto might simply choose to work somewhere else.
Recent Convictions Add Urgency
This push comes at a time when several crypto developers have faced serious legal consequences. Last year, Tornado Cash developer Roman Storm was convicted. So were Samourai Wallet founders Keonne Rodriguez and William Lonergan Hill. All were found guilty of conspiracy to operate an unlicensed money-transmitting business.
The sentences were substantial. Rodriguez got five years, Lonergan Hill received four. Storm is still waiting for his sentencing date. These cases have created what many in the industry see as a chilling effect. Developers are nervous, and that nervousness might be pushing talent to other countries.
What Happens Next
The Senate Banking Committee is still looking at the latest draft of the BRCA. It hasn’t been marked up or voted on yet. Somensatto’s letter warns that weakening the bill’s provisions could create more legal uncertainty. That uncertainty, he thinks, would drive developers away from the United States.
It’s a tricky balance, I suppose. Regulators want to prevent illegal activity, obviously. But if the rules are too broad, they might catch people who are just building technology. The BRCA tries to draw a line between those two things. Whether the Senate agrees remains to be seen.
Coin Center’s argument is essentially about creating a safe space for experimentation. They want developers to feel they can work on new systems without facing criminal charges for how others might use those systems. It’s not about immunity for bad actors, but about clarity for builders. The coming weeks will show if lawmakers find that argument convincing.
