The Solana Institute is pressing U.S. senators to keep intact key protections in the CLARITY Act as Congress moves closer to floor consideration — potentially as soon as August.
Why it matters
- Solana Institute President Kristin Smith urged lawmakers to preserve the Blockchain Regulatory Certainty Act (BRCA) language embedded in the CLARITY Act, saying it’s essential for legal clarity around non-custodial participants such as developers, node operators and validators.
- The BRCA would establish that parties who do not take custody of customer funds should not be treated as money transmitters under U.S. law, drawing a clear legal line between software/infrastructure providers and firms that control user assets.
- Smith framed the BRCA as consistent with last year’s FinCEN guidance and said it would provide legal certainty for open-source developers and network operators — a point underscored by a joint letter from major founders, CEOs and investors asking Senate leaders not to dilute those protections.
Where debate stands
- While industry groups are pushing to keep the BRCA text unchanged, several issues remain unresolved in Washington. Smith noted BRCA language was reviewed at a White House meeting that included law enforcement, and negotiations over ethics-related wording are ongoing.
- Lawmakers, regulators and industry representatives are set to meet in Chicago to discuss digital asset regulation and market structure, where House Agriculture subcommittee chair Rep. Dusty Johnson — who helped move an earlier version of the bill through the House Agriculture Committee in a bipartisan 47-6 vote — is expected to weigh in on how House members might react to Senate changes.
Timing is the bottleneck
- Sources and reporting indicate timing, not just policy differences, is complicating the path forward. Expectations have shifted away from a July 4 signing target toward the August congressional recess.
- The Senate must still reconcile separate versions approved by the Banking and Agriculture Committees, secure the 60 votes needed to advance debate, navigate cloture votes on amendments, and pass a final measure before any changes return to the House — a calendar that leaves little room for a July signing even if policy issues are resolved quickly.
What the CLARITY Act would do
- Set jurisdictional boundaries for digital assets: decentralized cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ethereum would fall under the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, while qualifying securities would remain under securities regulators.
- Include provisions on stablecoins, anti-money laundering requirements, decentralized finance activity, and rules for blockchain validators.
Broader stakes
- Smith warned the U.S. risks losing talent and developers if regulatory certainty is not preserved. She noted the domestic share of open-source crypto developers has fallen from 38% in 2015 to about 19% today, and that jurisdictions such as Singapore and Abu Dhabi are actively courting the industry’s next generation of builders.
Bottom line: Lawmakers and industry players are jockeying to secure protections for non-custodial participants as the CLARITY Act advances, but open policy issues and a tight legislative calendar make an August timeline more likely than a July signing.
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