Christine Smith (크리스틴 스미스), CEO of the Solana Policy Institute, urged the U.S. Senate to keep developer protection provisions in the crypto market structure bill known as the CLARITY Act.

Cointelegraph reported on Monday that Smith argued open-source developers and blockchain infrastructure providers should not be regulated as financial intermediaries.

Posting on X, Smith said the CLARITY bill appears likely to pass the Senate, making it important to keep protections for software developers in the legislation. She said more than 60 crypto industry CEOs and founders, including Solana co-founder Anatoly Yakovenko, signed an open letter.

The industry is taking issue with the scope of those subject to regulation. Smith said open-source developers, validators and non-custodial wallet providers neither control users' funds nor execute transactions, and should not be treated as brokers or custodians. She raised concerns that if publishing code or running infrastructure alone makes them direct targets of financial regulation, legal uncertainty for developers and service providers could increase.

Smith also mentioned the Blockchain Regulatory Certainty Act, or BRCA. The bill includes provisions to provide legal clarity to software developers and blockchain infrastructure providers that do not custody customer assets or control transactions. It is a bipartisan bill introduced in January by Senators Cynthia Lummis and Ron Wyden, focused on preventing open-source developers from being classified as "money transmitters" solely for posting software code.

The CLARITY bill passed the Senate Banking Committee in May and was recently placed on the Senate legislative calendar. That has raised the possibility of a floor vote later this summer. Smith's public call at this time for the Senate to keep developer protection provisions is also tied to that legislative process.

The argument also aligns with remarks by U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission Commissioner Hester Peirce. Peirce said at Princeton University's IC3 Blockchain Camp last week that many blockchain projects include releasing open-source software, which is generally an activity protected by the First Amendment. She also said developers should not be treated as financial intermediaries simply because others use the software.

A shift in the SEC's stance on digital asset regulation is also cited as a backdrop. SEC Chairman Paul Atkins has said he will end the industry's "regulation by enforcement" approach. In that environment, how the Senate handles the CLARITY bill could make the regulatory boundary more specific for developers, validators and non-custodial wallet services.

The issue goes beyond the industry's calls for protection. A key focus in the bill review process is whether traditional financial intermediary regulation can be applied as-is if developers and infrastructure providers do not directly hold user assets or control transactions.

As Senate deliberations continue, how strongly developer protection provisions are reflected in the CLARITY bill is expected to become an important turning point for the U.S. crypto regulatory system.

1/ The Clarity Act has a real shot at passing the Senate. Getting it right means protecting the developers who build public blockchains. Getting it wrong risks pushing them – and the future of this technology – offshore.