Washington’s lobbyists in the crypto industry are trying to attract lines to the sand above the market structure bill that is steaming the US Senate.
The industry has sent “in one voice” the Senate Banking and Agriculture Committee with letters signed by Coinbase, Kraken, Ripple, A16Z, Uniswap Labs and more than 100 other crypto companies and organizations. This unified effort will happen the week before the Senate returns to work, and will likely rekindle a full negotiation on the language of law, representing the industry’s top US goals.
“It provides robust and national protection for software developers and non-mandatory service providers under the Market Structure Act,” the letter said. “Without these protections, we cannot support the Market Structure Bill.”
The bill regulating how crypto is overseen in the United States has already passed the U.S. House of Representatives in a version known as a clear act of digital asset markets. It is currently in the hands of the Senate. Senator Tim Scott, chairman of the Senate Banking Committee, vowed that lawmakers will finish their work by the end of September.
“For the future of digital finance in this country, there is no more important group than software developers building it,” Amanda Tuminelli, executive director of the Defi Education Fund, said in a statement. “In the largest crypto advocacy coalition in history, over 110 organizations, builders and investors have come along with DEF to ask Congressional leaders to protect software developers and non-lawful service providers in federal market structure laws.
When lawmakers return to the bill after the August break, the industry wants them to consider this central point.
“It is important to recognize and preserve the historical protections that the law has given to open source software development, and to ensure that software developers and non-mandatory service providers who create, support and enable access to decentralized networks are not enforced by traditional regulatory categories designed for traditional associations, according to DEF’s digital officials, according to DEF’s digital officials, including Innovation, Solana Policy Institute.
While such debates may have fallen into Washington’s deaf ears a few years ago, these same companies have raised funds primarily through the Political Action Committee (the PAC of Fairshake and its affiliates), spending more than $130 million in last year’s Congressional elections, and more than $140 million in the past year.
So far, Crypto’s Congressional progress has been unprecedented, with a huge, bipartisan vote on crypto-related actions, culminating in recognition of national innovation for the US Stablecoins (Genius) Act and national innovation to oversee stable publishers.
However, the Market Structure Bill is expected to be the biggest test of the sector. The clear law included developer safeguards, but lobbyists are already concerned that Sen. Mark Warner, vice-chairman of the Senate Selection Committee, will sue liability for cryptographic software creators. The courts are also under pressure, with federal prosecutors recently convicted in several well-known developer cases. Most notably, the lawsuits between Tornado Cash and Roman Storm, among other things.
The industry has welcomed recent comments from a high-ranking Justice Department official that prosecutors do not pursue crypto developers who intentionally do not enter money laundering. Only new laws can provide permanent guarantees.
Read more: Convicted with unauthorized money to communicate conspiracy in partial verdict
Discover more from Earlybirds Invest
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
