TLDR
Crypto policy group Coin Center is pushing the US Senate to explicitly shield non-custodial crypto developers from being treated as money transmitters.
- Coin Center urged the Senate Banking Committee to advance the Blockchain Regulatory Certainty Act, which says non-custodial developers and infrastructure providers are not money transmitters.
- The push follows high-profile prosecutions of privacy and wallet developers, raising fears that open-source builders could face prison for publishing code others misuse.
- The bill sits in the Senate Banking Committee without a vote yet, and its fate will likely be tied to broader crypto market-structure legislation moving through Congress.
Deep Dive
1. What Coin Center Is Asking For
According to recent reporting, Coin Center sent a letter to the Senate Banking Committee urging it to advance the Blockchain Regulatory Certainty Act (BRCA), a bipartisan bill from Senators Cynthia Lummis and Ron Wyden that was updated in January and mirrors a long-running House effort by Rep. Tom Emmer. The BRCA would clarify that software developers and blockchain infrastructure providers who do not control user funds are not money transmitters under federal law, and therefore should not need money-services licenses or face related criminal exposure. Coin Center argues this is similar to how internet service providers and cloud hosts are not prosecuted when bad actors use their networks, as highlighted in its Senate letter and follow-up coverage by outlets such as Cointelegraph and Crypto.news.
2. Why Shielding Developers Matters
Coin Centers policy director warns that without BRCA-style protections, US-based developers face real criminal risk even when they never take custody of user assets. Recent convictions of Tornado Cash developer Roman Storm and Samourai Wallet founders are cited as examples of prosecutors pushing the edge of money-transmitter law against open-source builders. The concern is that ambiguous rules will chill innovation, drive serious teams offshore, and undermine the very DeFi and self-custody systems Congress says it wants to foster.
If you care about non-custodial wallets, DeFi protocols, or privacy tools, this bill is about whether the people who write and maintain that code can safely keep building in the US.
3. What Happens Next In Congress
The latest BRCA draft has not yet been marked up or voted on by the Senate Banking Committee, so it is still at a relatively early stage. Its progress is unfolding alongside a larger market-structure package (often called the CLARITY Act) that would define how the SEC and CFTC split oversight of crypto markets. Industry advocates fear that BRCA protections could be watered down or dropped in negotiations; Coin Center explicitly warns that weakening the bill would push well-intended developers out of the US. Key signals to watch are whether Banking schedules a markup, how BRCA language appears in any combined package, and whether there is bipartisan agreement to keep the developer safe harbor intact.
Conclusion
Coin Centers lobbying for BRCA is a direct attempt to draw a clear legal line between writing non-custodial crypto software and running a regulated money-transmission business. The outcome will shape how much legal risk US-based wallet, DeFi, and infrastructure developers face, and it is likely to move in tandem with the broader crypto market-structure debate in the Senate.
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