Crypto dev liability fears surge after 2025 cases, as Coin Center defends BRCA protections.
Summary
- Coin Center urged the Senate Banking Committee to advance the Blockchain Regulatory Certainty Act, warning that diluting it would chill U.S. blockchain innovation.
- The Lummis–Wyden bill clarifies that non-custodial developers and infrastructure providers are not money transmitters under federal law if they never control user assets.
- Recent convictions of Tornado Cash’s Roman Storm and Samourai Wallet’s founders for unlicensed money transmission highlight how unclear rules can expose open-source devs to prison.
Coin Center has called on the U.S. Senate Banking Committee to advance legislation that would shield cryptocurrency developers from prosecution when they do not control user funds, according to a letter sent by the advocacy group.
The organization warned that removing protections from the Blockchain Regulatory Certainty Act could discourage blockchain innovation in the United States, the letter stated.
Representative Tom Emmer first introduced the Blockchain Regulatory Certainty Act in 2018. Senators Cynthia Lummis and Ron Wyden introduced a revised version last month to clarify federal money transmitter rules, according to congressional records.
The updated bill seeks to confirm that software developers and blockchain infrastructure providers are not money transmitters if they do not take custody of customer assets. The draft has not yet been marked up or voted on by the Senate Banking Committee, according to lawmakers.
In the letter, Coin Center policy director Jason Somensatto compared blockchain developers to internet service providers and cloud hosting companies. Somensatto stated that authorities do not threaten those actors with prison when criminals misuse their systems and argued the same legal standard should apply to blockchain developers who publish code but do not manage user funds.
“This is the same type of activity conducted every day by internet service providers, cloud hosting services, router manufacturers, browser developers, and email providers,” Somensatto wrote in the letter.
The debate follows several criminal convictions of cryptocurrency developers in the United States in 2025. Courts convicted Tornado Cash developer Roman Storm and Samourai Wallet founders Keonne Rodriguez and Will Lonergan Hill of conspiring to operate an unlicensed money-transmitting business. Judges sentenced Rodriguez to five years in prison and Lonergan Hill to four years, according to court records. Storm is awaiting sentencing.
Coin Center stated that weakening the legislation could increase uncertainty for developers working in open-source software. The organization warned that some developers may choose to leave the United States if clear protections are not enacted.
Lawmakers continue to review the bill as discussions over digital asset regulation progress in Congress.
