Senators advance legal protection for cryptocurrency developers in the US.

• Legal protection for cryptocurrency developers
• Regulatory clarity for software and self-custody
• Project reduces classification as financial transmitters.

US senators have introduced a proposal aimed at providing greater legal security for cryptocurrency developers, while Congress accelerates the passage of a broader bill to regulate the digital asset market. The initiative seeks to clearly separate those who create software from those who actually control user funds.

The bill was introduced by Republican Senator Cynthia Lummis and Democratic Senator Ron Wyden, both members of the Senate Banking Committee. The proposal, called the Blockchain Regulatory Certainty Act, establishes objective criteria for defining when developers and service providers should not be treated as money transmitters under U.S. law.

The text follows discussions already held in the Chamber of Deputies and establishes clear limits for regulatory exemptions, especially for those who develop open-source code or tools that do not involve direct custody of funds. The intention is to prevent software developers from being subjected to the same requirements applied to traditional brokerage firms and financial intermediaries.

Related Stories

The Blockchain Regulatory Certainty Act (BRCA) provides critical protections for software developers of non-custodial, decentralized technologies – ensuring they will not be inaccurately and unfairly treated as “money transmitters” under the BSA and criminal law. The BRCA, which…

— DeFi Education Fund (@fund_defi) January 12, 2026

“Forcing developers who write code to follow the same rules as brokerage firms or brokers is technologically ignorant and a recipe for violating the privacy and freedom of expression rights of Americans,” Wyden said in an official statement.

The expectation among lawmakers is that this proposal will be incorporated into the broader text on cryptocurrency market structure, currently being drafted by the Senate Banking Committee. A hearing to discuss amendments and vote on the legislation as a whole was already scheduled for this week, with the release of the base text expected in the coming days.

Meanwhile, the Senate Agriculture Committee was also working on its own version of a bill on the cryptocurrency market, but the review was postponed until the end of the month. These two legislative fronts reflect Congress's effort to build a clearer and more functional regulatory framework for the sector.

Behind the scenes, senators, representatives from the cryptocurrency industry and the traditional financial system have been negotiating sensitive points, including compensation models, conflicts of interest involving businesses linked to the family of the current US president, Donald Trump, and the role of decentralized finance in the new legal framework.