On June 9, over 60 leading CEOs and founders within the cryptocurrency sector issued a letter to Senate Majority Leader John Thune and Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, urging the Senate to pass the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act, while retaining essential protections for blockchain developers, which the signers deemed crucial for their backing.
This missive, endorsed by leaders from prominent companies such as Coinbase, a16z crypto, Uniswap, Solana Labs, Kraken, Paradigm, Galaxy, Ledger, and many others, honed in on Section 604 of the Clarity Act — known as the Blockchain Regulatory Certainty Act (BRCA). This section provides important protections, exempting non-controlling software developers from compliance with the Bank Secrecy Act and federal money transmission laws.
The contributors argued that without the BRCA, the overall market structure bill would lack the legal framework necessary to foster blockchain innovation within the United States.
“From essential Bitcoin development to innovative DeFi smart contracts, developers require unambiguous legal assurance to freely build, maintain, and support community-centric software projects,” the letter asserted.
Current Status of the Clarity Act
The Clarity Act, officially referred to as H.R. 3633 — the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act — has taken years to develop. It successfully passed the House of Representatives in July 2025 with overwhelming bipartisan support, achieving a 294-134 vote that underscored significant interest in creating federal regulations for the classification of digital assets.
Following this, the bill encountered delays in the Senate, significantly halting in January 2026 when the Senate Banking Committee postponed its anticipated markup due to Coinbase retracting its backing in response to a proposed prohibition on stablecoin rewards.
On May 14, 2026, the Senate Banking Committee advanced the legislation with a 15-9 vote, which included Democrats Ruben Gallego from Arizona and Angela Alsobrooks from Maryland siding with Republicans. The bill was subsequently added to the Senate Legislative Calendar on June 1, 2026. According to Galaxy Research, there’s a projected 60-75% likelihood the bill will become law in 2026, with expectations for a potential presidential signature around August 3. However, Senator Cynthia Lummis, one of the bill’s authors, cautioned after the committee’s decision, stating, “No one should be celebrating just yet.”
Additionally, over the weekend, more than 200 cryptocurrency firms and organizations, spearheaded by Stand With Crypto, called on Senate leaders to push the Clarity Act to a Senate vote, highlighting the necessity for clear regulations to promote digital asset innovation within the U.S.
The Lengthy Journey Ahead for the Clarity Act
The BRCA, part of Section 604 in the Clarity Act, formalizes a guideline established by FinCEN in 2019: that developers and infrastructure providers who do not hold or manage user funds are not classified as money transmitters and thus aren’t bound by Bank Secrecy Act registration or criminal prosecution under 18 U.S.C. § 1960.
This stipulation distinctly separates intermediated financial services — including exchanges and custodial wallets — from open-source protocol development. Both the DeFi Education Fund and Coin Center have characterized the BRCA as a fundamental necessity for any market structure legislation, arguing that without it, developers risk prosecution for creating permissionless software.
The June 9 letter further urged the Senate to maintain complementary protections outlined in Section 601 of the Clarity Act, which exempts developers from SEC registration, and Section 207 of the Senate Agriculture Committee’s Digital Commodity Intermediaries Act, which offers similar exemptions under commodities law.
However, the bill’s path to final approval remains challenging. The Senate Banking Committee’s version must be integrated with the Senate Agriculture Committee’s framework before a full vote on the Senate floor, where it requires 60 votes to surpass the filibuster threshold.
Following this, the House and Senate drafts must be reconciled before landing on President Trump’s desk. Senate Democrats, led by Senator Elizabeth Warren, have expressed concerns that the bill’s anti-money laundering provisions are inadequately stringent.