U.S. Senate introduces bill to clarify regulation of blockchain developers…fast-track push on market-structure legislation

As legislative discussions over a crypto-asset (cryptocurrency) market-structure bill ramp up in earnest, a bipartisan bill has been introduced in the U.S. Senate to clarify the scope of legal liability for blockchain software developers.

According to The Block on the 13th (local time), Sen. Cynthia Lummis (R) and Sen. Ron Wyden (D) jointly introduced the Blockchain Regulatory Certainty Act (BRCA). The bill stipulates that software developers and service providers who do not control user funds should not be deemed money transmitters.

BRCA mirrors a structure similar to measures previously discussed in the U.S. House of Representatives, with a key focus on establishing “guardrails” that clarify when developers and infrastructure providers are excluded from the scope of money-transmission laws. The aim is to prevent situations in which, on decentralized networks, merely writing code or operating validator nodes exposes parties to regulatory risk.

In a statement, Wyden said, “Forcing the same rules on code-writing developers as on exchanges or brokers is an approach that fails to understand the technology, and it could infringe on Americans’ privacy and freedom of expression.” The crypto industry views the remarks as a clear signal of intent to protect the DeFi and self-custody ecosystem.

The bill is widely expected to be included in the crypto-asset market-structure legislation currently under discussion by the Senate Banking Committee. According to sources familiar with the matter, BRCA could be folded into the comprehensive crypto regulatory package being pursued by the committee.

Meanwhile, the Senate Agriculture Committee had been set to hold a markup on the crypto-asset market-structure bill this Thursday together with the Senate Banking Committee, but the schedule has been postponed to later this month. The delay was described as an adjustment aimed at preserving bipartisan consensus.