Lummis says CLARITY Act offers 'strongest' developer protections
30.03.2026
18036
US Senator Cynthia Lummis has dismissed claims that the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act fails to protect decentralized finance innovators from legal repercussions.
Lummis says CLARITY Act offers 'strongest' developer protections
US Senator Cynthia Lummis just dropped the mic on critics claiming the CLARITY Act leaves DeFi devs hanging. She says recent changes make it the 'strongest protection for DeFi and developers ever enacted' — and we need to pass this bill to lock those protections in.
This comes after crypto lawyer Jake Chervinsky called out Title 3 of the draft, arguing it could still slap non-custodial software devs with KYC obligations — basically undermining the Blockchain Regulatory Certainty Act (BRCA) that's supposed to shield them.
Don't believe the FUD. We have worked on a bipartisan basis for the last few weeks to make changes to Title 3 that make this bill the strongest protection for DeFi and developers ever enacted. We have to pass the Clarity Act to get these protections.
Chervinsky's main beef? The money transmitter definitions in Title 3 might still expose non-custodial DeFi builders to liability — even though section 604 of the CLARITY Act incorporates the BRCA, which says non-controlling devs shouldn't face BSA KYC rules.
The biggest challenge is ensuring non-custodial software developers aren't misclassified as money transmitters. That's non-negotiable for DeFi, and it's still unsettled.
Chervinsky says these DeFi protection provisions have been totally overshadowed by the drama around stablecoin rewards in the CLARITY Act.
This legal firestorm is hitting while devs are already getting cooked in court. Remember Tornado Cash co-founder Roman Storm? Convicted in August 2025 for conspiracy to run an unlicensed money transmitting business. Yeah, that's the climate.
Lawmakers say the CLARITY Act is moving closer to a Senate Banking Committee markup in April after bipartisan progress on stablecoin rules. Lummis stresses that passing this act is crucial to actually give DeFi devs the BRCA protections on paper.
#CLARITY Act#DeFi#developer protection#regulation#Senator Lummis
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