U.S. Senators Cynthia Lummis and Ron Wyden formally introduced the Blockchain Regulatory Certainty Act (Blockchain Regulatory Certainty Act).
This bipartisan bill primarily targets virtual currency software developers and infrastructure providers who have no control over their users’ funds. They should not be classified as money transmitters under federal law.
Similarly, the proposal aims to protect innovation within the digital asset ecosystem and ensure that those writing in open source do not face undue legal consequences.
Sen. Lummis, known for his pro-Bitcoin stance, emphasized that the current designation lacks technical and functional logic.
“For too long, blockchain developers who have simply written code and maintained open source infrastructure have been under threat of being classified as money transmitters,” he said.
depending on your vision, This classification unnecessarily limits innovation“It’s time to stop treating software developers like banks just because they write code,” he said.
Recipe for developer “privacy violation”
Sen. Ron Wyden called attempts to force programmers to follow the same rules as exchanges and stockbrokers as “technically ignorant.”
Wyden argued that such an approach is “a recipe for violating Americans’ rights to privacy and free speech.” The senator clarified that while governments can regulate digital assets, they “should not be dictating to developers what code they are allowed to write.”
The move comes at a time of tension in the U.S. cryptocurrency ecosystem. Previously, institutions such as the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) classified self-custody tools such as Lightning Network nodes and DeFi interfaces as “money service businesses,” CriptoNoticias reported.
The new law defines a developer as a person who does not have “unilateral ability to control, initiate, or carry out a transaction” without the approval of a third party. If approved, programmers will be able to improve the privacy of their work. There is no fear of being prosecuted for activities that do not involve the risk of money laundering.